. lower interest rates will normally result in higher inflation, partly because the krone depreciates, and partly because of a rise in demand. enterprises will thus be able to increase their earnings. business sector activity is stimulated most effectively by low interest rates and a weak krone. due to the past few years ’ wage settlements, households have strengthened their financial position at the expense of private and public enterprises. house prices have edged up after stagnating earlier this year. household borrowing has moderated somewhat, but is still high. against this background, growth in private consumption is expected to be fairly high in the period ahead. consumer spending on goods is rising, pointing towards growth in private consumption this year on a par with our projections in the june inflation report. mainland gdp is projected to rise less than trend growth this year and to reach trend levels in 2004. in 2005, gdp growth is projected to be higher than trend growth. investment activity in mainland norway is low. investment in the petroleum sector is rising, but a large share of the increase in demand is being met by imports. public consumption increased sharply in 2002, but there will be little stimulus to the economy from the public sector this year. growth will mainly be fuelled by private projection in inflation report 2 / 03 based on assumptions concerning forward rates and a gradually declining krone exchange rate. consumption in the second half of this year and into 2004. we expect that investment in mainland enterprises will gradually pick up from a low level. in order to set an appropriate interest rate, it is important to be be able to form a reasonably accurate picture of the economic situation. economic statistics are the most important source of information, but they are published with a lag and some of the figures are revised frequently. in autumn 2002, norges bank established a regional network as a tool to gauge the level of activity in the norwegian economy. the network consists of companies, organisations and municipalities throughout norway. in the two rounds of talks in connection with inflation report 2 / 03, 450 contacts were interviewed. we will be having six rounds of talks each year with business and community leaders concerning financial developments in their enterprises and industries, with about 200 visits in each round. the selection of contacts represents the production side of the economy, both industry - wise and geographically. in the course of 2003, the number of contacts in the network will rise to about 1000 persons, who will be contacted once or twice a year. the department of economics at the norwegian university

keynote speech by klaas knot “ innovation in finance makes africa work! ” at conference “ africa works! ”, amsterdam, royal tropical institute, 10 november 2016 amsterdam, royal tropical institute – innovations in finance will help africa get on in the world, especially when combined with a further strengthening of institutions. this was the message klaas knot conveyed in his speech marking the opening of the two - day conference “ africa works! see below for the full speechl ladies and gentlemen, i ’ m delighted to speak here today. how could i not be? for one, the purpose of this conference is to inform, inspire, connect and catalyse the dutch private sector with africa ’ s business opportunities. this is something i wholeheartedly support. for if there ’ s been one continent that has seen many changes for the better in the last two decades, it is africa! indeed, only 16 years ago, the economist portrayed africa as the “ hopeless continent ”, a nickname which would make every businessman or woman hesitant to invest. in less than one - and - a - half decennium, the economist changed its mind and came up with the pet name “ hopeful continent ”. what made the economist, like many others, change its mind? well, basically two developments, i think. first, its economic achievements. the years since the turn of the millennium have marked a period of sustained economic growth for the african continent. importantly, this boom has been shared by all countries in africa, except for a few countries where armed conflicts took place. admittedly, for some larger commodity - exporting african countries, such as nigeria or angola, the boom has been driven largely by the commodity super - cycle. we, in the netherlands, are well aware that natural resources can be a mixed blessing for an economy. it ’ s what earned this phenomenon the nickname “ dutch disease ”!, referring to the possible decline in competitiveness following the appreciation of our currency after the discovery of natural gas resources in the north sea. the currently declining economic conditions in these commodity - exporting countries seem to illustrate that the “ results of the past are no guarantee for the future ”. but this doesn ’ t take away the fact that the lives of many africans have started to change as a result of the “ african economic boom ”, lifting millions of people out of direct poverty and gradually creating a rising well - educated middle class. and, while the outlook for the commodity - exporters may have darkened,