one of the most important infrastructures in a modern economy. stability and security standards must be high. a failure in the payment system would affect important societal functions and large parts of the economy. the changes underway will give us a more efficient payment system in the form of better and less costly payment services. at the same time, rapidly evolving technologies pose new challenges. regulation and supervision must therefore be adapted to changes in the payment operator landscape and technological developments. norges bank has a primary responsibility for norway ’ s monetary system. under the norges bank act, norges bank has the sole right to issue cash ( chart 10 ). the bank also issues central bank money in the form of funds held by banks in their accounts with norges bank. these are the funds banks use for interbank settlements. the core of the payment system is norges bank ’ s settlement system. in 2018, an average of nok 248 billion passed through this settlement system – every single day. chart 10 the norwegian payment system. central bank money desposit money cash digital central bank currency? source : norges bank if necessary, norges bank can supply liquidity to the payment system. norges bank is the bankers ’ bank. in addition, norges bank has a special responsibility for the payment system. the bank oversees and supervises various components of the payment system and should drive new and efficient solutions. norges bank economic perspectives 14 february 2019 today, nearly all payments from customers ’ bank accounts are made using deposit money. 7 this is money created by banks. when people borrow money from a bank, the bank credits the same amount to an account. the money deposited was created at the instant the loan was made. deposit money circulates through the banking system, in and out of people ’ s accounts and is only to a limited extent converted to cash. as long as we have confidence in both the value of the norwegian krone and in the banking system, we will also have confidence in deposit money. the cash provided by norges bank has important attributes. while deposit money is a claim on a private bank, cash is a claim on the central bank. cash is a safe alternative if private payment solutions are not functioning or do not meet the expectations of the public in terms of security and efficiency. even though the use of cash has declined, cash is still in use and has important contingency functions. but new digital alternatives are emerging. norges bank is therefore considering whether the central bank should

ida wolden bache : the policy rate is kept unchanged 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, 25 january 2024. * * * charts accompanying the speech chart : policy rate kept unchanged at 4. 5 percent the monetary policy and financial stability committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4. 5 percent. norges bank is tasked with keeping 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. inflation is still high. in order to return inflation to target, we have raised the policy rate substantially over the past couple of years. in december, the policy rate was raised to 4. 5 percent, and we signalled that it would remain at that level for some time ahead. new forecasts have not been prepared for this meeting, but we have assessed new information against the december forecasts. our assessment is that the outlook has not changed materially since then. chart : international inflation has declined other central banks have also raised policy rates significantly in recent years in order to bring down inflation. inflation among trading partner countries declined through last year, partly reflecting lower energy prices but also a slower rise in prices for other goods and services. the market's interpretation of the outlook indicates that a number of central banks will lower their policy rates in the course of spring. chart : the krone has appreciated the krone depreciated considerably through autumn last year. since the december monetary policy meeting, the krone has appreciated again and more than expected. the appreciation has coincided with a rise in domestic market interest rates at the same time as international rates have fallen. the krone exchange rate is not a policy target, but we are concerned with the krone exchange rate insofar as it affects the inflation outlook. a stronger krone contributes to reducing import price inflation. chart : low growth in the norwegian economy economic growth in norway is low. household consumption appears to have held up better towards the end of last year than we projected in december. on the other hand, the level of new homes sales is low, as is the level of construction activity. in contrast to the construction industry, the oil services industry is experiencing vigorous growth. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches the employment rate is high, and