fall in oil prices. but even excluding this part of the export industry, growth in mainland exports since 2014 has been lower than growth in trading partner imports. chart : mainland exports weak export growth partly reflects supply - side constraints in some sectors. production stoppages at several large companies led to a decrease in industrial commodity exports last year, while salmon lice infestations contributed to a decline in seafood exports. other service sector segments in addition to the oil service industry also appear to have been adversely affected by the downturn in the global petroleum industry. a weaker krone is also an advantage for norwegian firms competing in the domestic market. competitiveness in the oil service industry has improved considerably, particularly after the substantial cost - cutting measures introduced by companies in this industry in recent years. we have recently seen that a larger share of contracts on the norwegian continental shelf is being awarded to norwegian companies. fiscal policy has had a significant impact as a countercyclical tool. since 2013, the increase in oil revenue spending has roughly matched the fall in oil investment. chart : investment low interest rates and high public demand have resulted in robust growth in the public sector and the construction industry. with high house price inflation, housing investment has increased substantially. investment in 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches housing is now higher than investment in oil activity. chart : growth in mainland gdp the economy is now turning the corner. contacts in norges bank ’ s regional network have reported gradually rising growth. the upturn seems to be broadly based across industries and regions. there are clear signs that unemployment is falling both in oil - dependent regions and in the rest of the country. at the same time, employment growth has been modest, and some of the decline in unemployment is the result of labour market withdrawal. looking ahead, there are prospects that employment will increase as growth in the mainland economy picks up, partly driven by mainland corporate investment, which seems to be picking up. oil investment is also expected to show a moderate upswing as from next year. export growth is also likely to pick up, supported by growth among norway ’ s trading partners. at the same time, there is reason to expect less fiscal stimulus ahead. the government has adjusted the fiscal rule for oil revenue spending. oil revenue spending over time is required to correspond to the expected real return on the government pension fund global, which has been revised down from four to three percent. in our analyses published in march this year, we have assumed that oil revenue

øystein olsen : the conduct of monetary policy introductory statement by mr øystein olsen, governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), before the standing committee on finance and economic affairs of the storting ( norwegian parliament ), oslo, 15 may 2017. * * * accompanying slides thank you for the opportunity to report on the conduct of monetary policy. my introduction here today is based on norges bank ’ s annual report for 2016 and our monetary policy assessments up to the monetary policy meeting earlier this month. monetary policy in norway is oriented towards keeping inflation low and stable. the operational target is consumer price inflation of close to 2. 5 percent over time. monetary policy is at the same time flexible in that our interest rate setting also takes developments in output and employment into consideration. the key policy rate was lowered to 0. 5 percent in march 2016 and has since been kept unchanged. the key policy rate is low because interest rates abroad are low, while capacity utilisation in the norwegian economy is below a normal level and the forces driving inflation are moderate. low growth and the risk of deflation in the global economy have brought down interest rates among norway ’ s trading partners to a very low level. chart : global and trading partner gdp growth in the global economy has gradually slowed in recent years and was in 2016 at its lowest since the financial crisis. the slowdown reflects more moderate growth in china and stagnation in some other important emerging economies. among norway ’ s trading partners, which are dominated by advanced european economies and the us, growth has picked up from the very low post - crisis levels. unemployment has decreased considerably in a number of countries. in the april issue of the international monetary fund ’ s ( imf ) semi - annual report, a moderate pickup in global growth is projected for the years ahead. at the same time, there is considerable uncertainty about international developments. signals of rising protectionism and global political unrest may reduce economic growth. inflation among norway ’ s trading partners is still low, but has recently edged up, partly as a result of higher energy prices. inflation can be expected to gain further momentum ahead as activity in trading partner economies picks up. while inflation is rising and growth prospects are improving, global interest rates may have passed their lowest point. expected money market rates indicate that short - term interest rates among trading partners will rise in the years ahead. however, interest rates will probably remain low, compared with pre - crisis levels, for an extended