a complete overview of society ’ s total costs related to the payment system. users ’ participation in the production of payment services does not necessarily have a positive impact on society ’ s overall efficiency in the production of payment services. increased use of e - invoicing will, however, increase the efficiency of electronic bill payment. the survey does not cover the payees ’ costs related to invoicing. 8. price developments 1993 - 2002 paper - based services electronic services 2001 nok 4 2001 nok 3. 5 giro cash giro at the counter telephone giro 2. 5 1. 5 cheque eftpos pc / internet giro direct debits mail giro 0. 5'02'02 both developments in the use of payment services and research show that prices affect customers'use of different payment services. despite the price increase for most paper - based services, the weighted average price per transaction, at constant prices, has fallen since 1994. 9. average prices ( weighted by transaction ) 2001 nok weighted average price giro transactions weighted average price all transactions for most services, customer prices are lower than banks ’ unit costs. the exception is giro services at the counter. the unit cost for eftpos has declined so that transaction prices nearly covered costs in 2001. prices have fallen because the transaction volume has increased and costs related to developing and introducing the system have been repaid. the price for using a card in a pos terminal has not risen appreciably in recent years. the unit cost for paying bills over the internet is still high. this is probably because development and introduction costs are still not repaid and because there is excess capacity in the banks'solutions. customer prices cover less than one - fourth of the costs reported by banks in connection with this service. it appears that banks are pricing this service on the basis of a long - term strategy that low prices during the introduction phase will encourage customers to use new, more efficient payment instruments earlier. if the pricing strategy actually increases use, it may contribute to increasing efficiency in the payment system in the long term because economies of scale will be exploited at an early stage. in norway, the banks'standardisation office establishes the standards for payment services. the banks'payment and central clearing house ( bbs ) and edb fellesdata produce most of the payment services in norway. in some areas, the two companies produce different kinds of services, while in other areas, they compete in the same market. this solution exploits

svein gjedrem : monetary policy in norway lecture by svein gjedrem, governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), at the norwegian school of economics and business administration, bergen, 17 october 2002. the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. the references for the speech can be found on the norges bank ’ s website. * * * a year and a half ago, the government and the storting adopted new guidelines for economic policy in norway. the guidelines outline a medium - term strategy for the use of petroleum revenues over the government budget. government petroleum revenues are transferred to the government petroleum fund. the guidelines provide for the use of the expected real return on the fund, i. e. 4 per cent of the fund ’ s market value each year. as the fund ’ s market value grows, so does its return. a gradual increase in the use of petroleum revenues ensures greater stability than a rapid withdrawal. the government laid down a new operational mandate for monetary policy at the same time. norges bank shall set the key interest rate with a view to maintaining low and stable inflation. the inflation target is set at 2½ per cent. the responsibility for implementing monetary policy is delegated to norges bank pursuant to the norges bank act and appurtenant regulation. norges bank sets the interest rate on the basis of our understanding of the regulation. our interpretation places emphasis on the government ’ s rationale behind the regulation, on the objective as formulated in the first paragraph and on our knowledge about the relationships between the interest rate, the krone exchange rate, output, employment and inflation. the first sentence in the monetary policy mandate refers to the value of the krone. stability in the internal value of the krone implies that inflation must be low and stable. the regulation also states that monetary policy shall be aimed at stability in the external value of the krone. the krone exchange rate fluctuates from day to day, from week to week, and from month to month. we have free international trade and free capital movements. we do not have the instruments for fine - tuning the exchange rate. but when monetary policy is oriented towards low and stable inflation, this will contribute to a stable krone exchange rate over time. the first paragraph of the mandate sets forth its intentions. the last paragraph specifies what norges bank is required to do. the inflation target is set at 2½ per cent. if we