ida wolden bache : the policy rate has been raised to bring down inflation introductory statement by ms ida wolden bache, governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), at the press conference following norway's announcement of the policy rate, oslo, 4 may 2023. * * * accompanying charts to the speech chart 1 : policy rate raised by 0. 25 percentage point norges bank's monetary policy and financial stability committee decided to raise the policy rate by 0. 25 percentage point to 3. 25 percent. norges bank's task is to keep inflation low and stable. the operational target is inflation of close to 2 percent over time. we are also mandated to help keep employment as high as possible and to promote economic stability. chart 2 : inflation is too high inflation is now markedly above the target. in march, consumer prices were 6. 5 percent higher than one year earlier. high energy prices are a key driver of inflation, but other goods and services prices have also risen rapidly. price stability is crucial for maintaining a well - functioning economy. the policy rate is being set with the aim of bringing inflation back to the target of 2 percent. at the same time, we want to avoid a slowdown in economic growth beyond what is necessary to tackle inflation. we have not yet seen the full effects of our past rate hikes. our march forecasts indicated a policy rate increase to around 3. 5 percent this summer. new forecasts have not been prepared for this monetary policy meeting, but we have assessed new information against the forecasts we presented in march. chart 3 : international inflation has slowed inflation among trading partners is also high but has eased in many countries in recent months. gas and power prices have come down from the very high levels seen last year. problems at some us and swiss banks led to large movements in financial markets in march. global equity indexes have risen since the march report, and bond risk premiums have fallen. us and european households and firms appear to be finding it more difficult to obtain loans. chart 4 : the krone has depreciated high inflation has prompted central banks in many countries to raise policy rates quickly and more than in norway. the norwegian krone has depreciated in recent months and 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches is now at its weakest level since the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020. the krone is weaker than we projected in march. activity in the

payments system innovators. this lesson involves payments system risks : operational, security, fraud, credit, liquidity and legal risks. many payment innovations are being built on top of older established systems and infrastructure, while others attempt to circumvent more established payment practices. this is part of the process of innovation. at the same time, innovations need to address risk consistently and responsibly. relevant information about risk should be provided to the users of payment arrangements. as we know, the failure of private - sector innovators to address risk early may ultimately force public policy to prescribe solutions. payments system development committee i would now like to give you an overview of the recent work of the federal reserve ’ s payments system development committee, which i co - chair with cathy minehan, president of the boston fed. the board created this committee last year to help follow up on the work of my predecessor, alice rivlin, and to help stimulate the federal reserve system ’ s engagement with the private sector on a range of issues involving payments system innovation. four important activities of the committee are the following : ( 1 ) to identify strategies for enhancing the long - term efficiency of the retail payments system, ( 2 ) to identify barriers to innovation and work to address those barriers where possible, ( 3 ) to monitor market developments, and ( 4 ) to conduct workshops and forums that encourage focused discussions with the private sector. the current areas of concentration by the committee include electronic check truncation and presentment, efforts to reduce legal and regulatory barriers to innovation, standards, and future clearing and settlement systems to support electronic commerce. in this age of the internet, the committee ’ s work on electronic check collection deserves comment. checks continue to be the most widely used retail payment instrument after currency. at the same time, it has been very difficult for the banking industry to move from a paper - based to an electronic check collection system. there has been experimentation with check truncation and electronic presentment in the united states since the 1960s, with limited success. recently, the banking industry has shown renewed interest in this topic. the banking industry technology secretariat ( bits ) for example, has endorsed the goal of having their members present at least 50 % of their checks electronically by 2001. the federal reserve banks now present about 20 % of their checks electronically to more than 3, 800 banking organizations. both the federal reserve and the private sector are piloting new arrangements for truncation, presentment and