with low productivity growth, this means higher business costs. chart : the krone has depreciated moreover, the krone depreciated markedly in the period to summer last year. a weaker krone means higher import prices. the krone is now a little weaker than before the monetary policy meeting in september and a little weaker than expected. the depreciation has been particularly pronounced against the us dollar, which has appreciated against many currencies in recent weeks. the dollar appreciated further in the hours following the us election. chart : modest rise in unemployment since we started raising the policy rate, unemployment has edged up from a very low level. at the end of october, registered unemployment was 2. 1 percent, in line with our september projection. unemployment is still a little lower than in the period before the pandemic, and the number of job vacancy postings is high. chart : the policy rate will likely be held at today's level to the end of the year the committee judges that a restrictive monetary policy is still needed to bring inflation down to target within a reasonable time horizon. the committee is concerned with the possibility that if the policy rate is lowered prematurely, inflation could remain above target for too long. on the other hand, an overly tight monetary policy could contract the economy more than needed. when we set the policy rate, we have to balance these trade - offs. the economic outlook is uncertain. the committee will have received more information about economic developments ahead of its next monetary policy meeting in december, when new policy rate forecasts will be presented. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

return on the oil fund. but if we squander the capital in the fund, we will either have to match the shortfall with tax increases or make substantial cuts in government welfare. the gains – not only the costs – of building up an oil fund have thus been made visible. this also attracts its defenders. large fortunes nevertheless give rise to concerns. as a minimum requirement, the management of oil wealth must not impair the productivity of labour and real capital. this may seem to be a modest goal, but is not a trivial one. people of my generation may remember the german gunter sachs, one of the heirs to the opel fortune. he was known for saying that he had not worked a day in his life. 11 sachs could live off his fortune and his spending was not confined to only useful things. for example, he lavished thousands of red roses on brigitte bardot, strewn over her home from a helicopter. there is no shortage of examples of individuals who have spent large portions of their wealth on an opulent lifestyle. but nations do not have the possibility of living off wealth alone. a nation thrives on each other ’ s labour, as finance minister erik brofoss stated in his address on the state of economy to the storting ( norwegian parliament ). the economists jeffrey sachs and andrew warner 12 have shown that countries with abundant natural resources have generally experienced weaker growth than otherwise comparable countries. perhaps this is not so strange. sudden wealth in one sector of the economy also results in higher wages and cost levels in other sectors. such visible wealth can also weaken and crowd out internationally exposed business. economists refer to this phenomenon as the “ dutch disease ” after the netherlands pursued an expansionary economic policy based on huge revenues from gas sales in the 1960s. when gas production declined, a period of harsh economic restructuring followed. the sheltered sector had to be reduced and the internationally exposed sector increased. there were too few left in the business sector to bear the welfare state. the resource curse also increases rent - seeking at the expense of value creation, as the economist trygve haavelmo noted. many countries that have experienced a windfall of wealth have been victims of this curse. the state of alaska has chosen its own institutional solution to avoid rent - seeking among special - interest groups. once the real value of alaska ’ s oil fund, the alaska permanent fund, is secured, dividends are distributed to the owners. each resident receives an annual cheque that