Norges Bank Rate Decision: 2026 Schedule, Dates and What to Expect

Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, sets the policy rate (the interest rate on banks’ sight deposits at the central bank) eight times a year. Decisions are taken by the five-member Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee, chaired by Governor Ida Wolden Bache, and announced at 10:00 Oslo time, which is 4:00 am ET and 9:00 am London. The next announcement is Thursday, September 24, 2026, when the decision will be published alongside Monetary Policy Report 3/26 and a new policy rate forecast. Full schedule and background: Norges Bank rate decision dates. This page carries an ICS and Google Calendar feed, so every confirmed date below can be added to your own calendar in one click.

2026 and 2027 schedule

The table below lists every announcement date Norges Bank has confirmed on its official policy rate decisions calendar. Dates are announcement dates: the Committee normally meets the previous day and the Governor holds a press conference at 10:30 Oslo time on the day of the announcement.

Norges Bank publishes its calendar a year or more in advance and rarely changes it. Extraordinary meetings are possible in a crisis, as in March 2020, but they are exceptional.

What is the Norges Bank rate decision?

The policy rate is the interest rate commercial banks earn on overnight deposits held at Norges Bank up to a set quota. It anchors Norwegian money market rates, which in turn drive mortgage rates, business loan rates and savings rates across the country. When the Committee changes the policy rate, the change normally takes effect the following day, and Norwegian banks typically pass it through to floating mortgage rates within six to eight weeks, subject to the notice period required by law.

Norges Bank has a flexible inflation targeting mandate. The operational target is annual consumer price inflation of close to 2% over time. The Committee is also mandated to help keep employment as high as possible and to promote economic stability, including the stability of the financial system. That means it weighs the cost of tolerating above-target inflation for longer against the cost of higher unemployment and financial strain from tighter policy.

Norway is unusual among advanced economies. It is a large exporter of oil, gas and seafood, it runs a sovereign wealth fund worth well over $1 trillion, and its currency, the krone, is thinly traded and highly sensitive to oil prices and global risk appetite. A weak krone raises the price of imported goods, so exchange rate moves feed into Norwegian inflation faster than they do in the euro area or the United States. This is why Norges Bank statements refer so often to the krone.

Because Norges Bank was one of the first developed market central banks to raise rates after the pandemic, in September 2021, and has often moved before the European Central Bank, its decisions are watched by investors far beyond Norway as an early signal on the inflation cycle.

How is the decision made?

The Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee has five members: the Governor, two Deputy Governors and two external members. Decisions are taken by the Committee as a whole. Norges Bank does not publish an individual vote tally in the way the Bank of England does, but the press release states when a decision is unanimous, and the Committee’s assessment published with each decision sets out the arguments considered on both sides.

Four of the eight annual meetings are “forecast” meetings, tied to the publication of the Monetary Policy Report in March, June, September and December. At those meetings Norges Bank publishes a full set of projections for inflation, GDP, unemployment, house prices and the krone, plus a policy rate path: a chart showing the interest rate profile the Committee currently judges most likely. This rate path is often more market-moving than the decision itself, because it tells investors how many cuts or rises the Committee expects over the next three years.

The other four meetings, including November 5, 2026, are interim meetings. New forecasts are not prepared, and the Committee assesses whether incoming data has changed the outlook materially since the last report. Interim meetings more often produce no change, though they are not automatic holds: the June 2025 cut and the May 2026 rise show the Committee will act between reports when it judges it necessary.

Key inputs include the consumer price index and the underlying measure known as CPI-ATE (consumer prices adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy products), published by Statistics Norway, the Regional Network survey of about 300 Norwegian businesses conducted by Norges Bank, registered unemployment from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, and the annual wage settlement. Norges Bank does not revise past policy decisions, but the data behind them, especially GDP and wages, is revised routinely.

What time is the decision released and where?

The announcement is published at 10:00 Oslo time. Norway uses Central European Time (UTC+1) in winter and Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) from late March to late October, so the conversion changes twice a year:

• Summer dates (CEST): 10:00 Oslo = 09:00 London = 4:00 am ET = 4:00 pm Singapore and Hong Kong
• Winter dates (CET): 10:00 Oslo = 09:00 London = 4:00 am ET = 5:00 pm Singapore and Hong Kong

For September 24, 2026, that is 4:00 am ET and 9:00 am London, an hour before the London equity open and while Asian markets are still trading. The press release, the Committee’s assessment and, at forecast meetings, the full Monetary Policy Report appear simultaneously on the Norges Bank website. There is no lock-up embargo release to journalists ahead of time. The Governor’s press conference follows at 10:30 Oslo time and is streamed live, with an introductory statement published in English as it begins.

Official source: Norges Bank policy rate decisions calendar. Historical rates are available on the bank’s policy rate page.

Recent decisions

The most recent decision was on August 13, 2026, when the Committee kept the policy rate unchanged at 4.25% following its meeting on August 12. No new forecasts were prepared, and Norges Bank confirmed that Monetary Policy Report 3/26 would be published with the September 24, 2026 decision.

Source: Norges Bank monetary policy meeting pages and press releases. “bp” means basis points: 1bp is one hundredth of a percentage point, so 25bp is 0.25 percentage points.

The pattern is instructive. The rate sat at 4.50% from December 2023 until June 2025, one of the longest holds among advanced economies. Two cuts in 2025 took it to 4.00%, where it stayed through the winter. In March 2026 the Committee flagged that inflation was likely to run higher than previously projected and that a rise might be needed, then delivered a 25bp increase in May 2026. In August 2026 Norges Bank noted that inflation had slowed and come in below its projections over the summer.

What is the consensus forecast?

For the September 24, 2026 decision, a consensus forecast has not yet been published. Reuters and Bloomberg typically poll Nordic bank economists, including DNB, SEB, Nordea, Handelsbanken and Danske Bank, in the week before each decision, and Norwegian forward rate agreements give a market-implied probability closer to the day. Two things will shape those expectations: the August and September CPI-ATE prints from Statistics Norway, and the revised policy rate path in Monetary Policy Report 3/26.

Norges Bank has been explicit that the direction depends on data. In its recent statements the Committee has said that if wage and price inflation prove more persistent than projected, a higher policy rate may be required, while if inflation returns to target faster or the labour market weakens more than expected, the rate can be lowered sooner. Treat both as possibilities, not predictions.

How do markets react?

Three markets respond within seconds.

The krone. USD/NOK and EUR/NOK are the fastest movers. A decision or rate path that is more hawkish than expected (hawkish meaning leaning towards higher rates) usually strengthens the krone, because higher Norwegian rates relative to the euro area or the United States make krone assets more attractive. A dovish surprise (dovish meaning leaning towards lower rates) usually weakens it. Because the krone is one of the least liquid G10 currencies, moves of 0.5% to 1% on a surprise are common, larger than the euro would typically see on an ECB day.

Norges Bank’s daily foreign exchange transactions on behalf of the government, announced monthly, add another layer: the bank buys or sells krone to move petroleum revenue into or out of the Government Pension Fund Global, and traders watch those amounts alongside the rate decision.

Norwegian government bonds and swaps. Two-year and five-year yields reprice immediately against the new policy rate path. Because the path is published as a chart with numbers behind it, the market can measure exactly how much the Committee has shifted since the previous report, which is why forecast meetings move rates markets more than interim ones.

Equities. The Oslo Børs benchmark index is dominated by energy, shipping and finance. Banks such as DNB are directly geared to the policy rate through their net interest margins, while a stronger krone trims the krone value of oil and gas revenues earned in dollars. The net effect on the index is often smaller than the currency move.

Spillover beyond Norway is mostly informational. Because Norges Bank sometimes turns before the ECB, the Bank of England or the Riksbank, a surprise in Oslo can nudge expectations for Swedish and euro area rates and, in turn, sterling and euro rate markets. It rarely moves US Treasuries.

What It Means for Your Money

If you live in Norway, this is the single most important scheduled event for your household finances. Almost all Norwegian mortgages are floating rate, so a 25bp change flows through to monthly payments within weeks once banks give notice. On a 4 million krone mortgage, 25bp is roughly 10,000 krone a year before tax relief. Savings rates move in the same direction, though banks usually pass rises on to borrowers faster than to savers.

If you are outside Norway, the channels are narrower but real:

• Travel and shopping: the krone rate determines what a trip to Oslo or Bergen costs, and what Norwegian salmon or imported goods cost at home.
• Pensions and investments: if you hold a global equity or bond fund, Norwegian assets are a small slice, but the same inflation and rate cycle Norges Bank is responding to drives valuations in the UK, Europe and Asia. Higher rates for longer generally weigh on bond prices and on long-duration growth shares.
• Energy exposure: Norway is Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas. Norges Bank’s assessment of the oil and gas outlook is a useful read on Europe’s energy costs, which in turn feed household bills in the UK and the euro area.
• Cross-border earnings and property: if you earn in krone and spend in pounds or euros, or hold a Norwegian mortgage from abroad, both the rate and the currency move matter.

For most people the practical takeaway is direction rather than any single meeting: whether Norges Bank thinks rates are heading up, down or sideways over the next year, which is exactly what the policy rate path in the Monetary Policy Report tells you.

Related economic events

• ECB Rate Decisions: the euro area sets the benchmark against which Norwegian rate differentials, and the krone, are measured.
• FOMC Meeting Dates: US policy drives global risk appetite, which the thinly traded krone is highly sensitive to.
• Bank of Canada Rate Decisions: another commodity-exporting economy with a currency geared to energy prices.
• Bank of Japan Rate Decisions: the anchor for global carry trades that shape flows into high-yielding currencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the next Norges Bank rate decision?

Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 10:00 CEST, which is 4:00 am ET and 9:00 am London. It is a forecast meeting, published with Monetary Policy Report 3/26.

What time is the announcement, and when is the press conference?

The decision is published at 10:00 Oslo time on the announcement date, and Governor Ida Wolden Bache holds a press conference at 10:30 Oslo time, streamed live with an English introductory statement.

How often does Norges Bank set the policy rate?

Eight times a year. Four of those meetings come with a full Monetary Policy Report and an updated policy rate path, in March, June, September and December.

Where can I find the official release?

On the Norges Bank website, at the policy rate decisions calendar, which links to each press release, the Committee’s assessment and the Monetary Policy Report.

How does the decision affect Norwegian mortgage and savings rates?

Norwegian mortgages are overwhelmingly floating rate, so a change in the policy rate usually reaches borrowers and savers within six to eight weeks, once banks have given the notice period required by law.

What is the current policy rate?

4.25%, unchanged at the meeting on August 12, 2026 and announced on August 13, 2026.