: norex sg 240802 correlation with world index. usd based price indexes 0, 8 dec 93 - 97 0, 6 1998 - 2002 0, 4 0, 2 denmark finland norway sweden source : ecowin / financial times sg 240802 fdi to / from the us. total at end 2001. per cent of gdp to us from us sweden denmark finland norway source : national central banks, imf sg 240802 the links with the us economy are many and complex. the us is one of our major trading partners. but the ties are perhaps even more evident in the capital markets. all the nordic countries have relatively large direct investments in the us economy. in addition, us capital markets today have a decisive impact on developments around the globe. american capital has also been important for investments in the nordic economies. us direct investments in norway. end of year 2000. m ining and extraction incl. oil and gas m anufacturing retail trade, hotels and restaurants f inancial ente rprises, real estate and business activities other 7 % 1 % 13 % 12 % 67 % source : norges bank sg 240802 us companies have been pioneers in developing the norwegian petroleum sector, which is crucial for us. last year, norway was the world ’ s third largest exporter of oil. even today, two thirds of us direct investments in norway are linked to our petroleum sector. the government petroleum fund market value in billions of usd1 ). end of june 2002 stocks bonds europe us asia and oceania america ex us 1 ) bond figure for us incl. usd 3 bn dollar - denominated issued by non - us entities source : national central banks, imf sg 240802 total capital in the government petroleum fund. end of year. per cent of gdp 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 source : ministry of finance. national budget 2003 sg 240802 revenues from the petroleum sector have generated an annual fiscal surplus of some 10 - 15 per cent over the last few years. since 1995, the fiscal surplus has been invested in the government petroleum fund. the fund invests only in foreign markets. investments – all portfolio investments - are spread between equities and fixed income instruments, as well as across countries. approximately 29 per cent of the fund is invested directly in the us stock market and in dollar - denominated bonds. the size of the fund has increased rapidly over the last few

norwegian economy is high. household consumption has continued to increase despite high inflation and higher interest rates. the employment rate is high and employment has risen further so far this year. the labour market is tight. economic growth has nevertheless slowed recently. unemployment moved a little higher in april, and the number of job postings has declined. chart 5 : wage growth has risen the tight labour market has led to a pick - up in wage growth. wage growth last year was the highest since 2011, with a further rise expected this year. the outcome of this year's wage settlement so far suggests that annual wage growth will be slightly higher than we projected in march. higher wage growth means higher business costs and could lead to higher prices for domestically produced goods. the krone depreciation will generate higher costs for imported goods ahead. chart 6 : further rate rise likely in june the committee assesses that a higher policy rate is needed to dampen inflation. since the publication of our march projections, overall economic activity has been broadly as expected. excluding energy prices, consumer price inflation has also moved as projected. higher wage growth and the krone depreciation will contribute to keeping inflation elevated ahead. if the krone remains weaker than projected or pressures in the economy persist, a higher policy rate than envisaged earlier may be needed. the future policy rate path will depend on economic developments, but we will most likely raise the policy rate again in june, at which time we will also present updated forecasts for the norwegian economy. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches