Norway
Measures taken in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Adoption date |
Type of measure |
Beneficiaries' sector specification |
Description of measure |
02/04/2020 |
Public guarantees |
Non-financial corporations |
Amendment to state guarantee scheme for new bank loans to SMEs. The amendment opened the scheme for loans also to large enterprises. The conditions are mostly the same, but large enterprises must pay higher guarantee premiums and may be granted larger loasn |
07/04/2020 |
Direct grants |
Non-financial corporations |
Enterprises with a least a 30 percent of drop in revenue as a result of the virus outbreak will receive government support to cover a share of the lost revenue. The amount of support will depend, among other things, on the amount of lost revenue, the size of the enterprise’s unavoidable fixed costs and whether the enterprise has been ordered by the government to close. The calculation method was altered somewhat from July 2021 |
16/03/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
Non-financial corporations |
Suspend the tax on air passengers for flights in the period from 1 January 2020 until 31 December 2021. |
16/03/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
Non-financial corporations |
Suspend the tax on air passengers for flights in the period from 1 January 2020 until 31 December 2021. |
16/03/2020 |
Other measures of fiscal nature |
Non-financial corporations |
Suspend payments of aviation charges until 30 June 2020. |
16/03/2020 |
Tax reliefs |
Non-financial corporations |
Reduce the low rate of VAT, which includes passenger transport, accommodation and parts of the cultural sector, from 12 to 6 per cent in the period from April 1 to December 31, 2020. |
16/03/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
Non-financial corporations |
Defer the deadline for payment of the first VAT period from 14 April to 10 June 2020. |
16/03/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
All sectors |
Postpone the deadline for payment of the second tax installment for companies from 15 April to 1 September 2020. |
21/03/2020 |
Public guarantees |
Non-financial corporations |
Aviation guarantee scheme totaling NOK 6 billion, with a 90 percent government guarantee on each loan. Of these, NOK 3 billion is directed to Norwegian Air Shuttle, 1.5 billion to SAS and the remaining 1.5 billion to Widerøe and other airlines. |
21/03/2020 |
Public guarantees |
Non-financial corporations |
Introduce a state guarantee scheme for new bank loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing a sudden shortage of liquidity due to the economic effects of the Covid-10 pandemic. The scheme covers 90 % of banks’ losses on certain loans, and the total guaranteed amount will not exceed NOK 50 billion. The initial limit of NOK 50 billion may however be increased if needed. |
24/03/2020 |
Tax reliefs |
All sectors |
Change corporate tax regulations so that companies that are lossmaking can re-allocate their loss towards previous years’ taxed surplus. |
24/03/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
All sectors |
Change the tax regulations so that owners of lossmaking companies can postpone payments of wealth tax |
19/06/2020 |
Tax reliefs |
Non-financial corporations |
Temporary changes to |
19/06/2020 |
Tax deferrals |
Other |
Expand the employee share option tax scheme (postponed tax payments) for small start-ups to more businesses and more employees, so that companies more easily may replace cash salaries by options to mitigate liquidity constraints. |
19/06/2020 |
Tax reliefs |
All sectors |
Reduce valuation of shares etc. in the tax base for wealth tax from 75 pct. to 65 pct. of market value. |
28/05/2020 |
Direct grants |
Non-financial corporations |
Enterprises with at least 10 percent of drop in revenue as a result of the virus outbreak will receive government support for each temprarily laid off person that the busniess takes back. The amount of support will depend, among other things, on the amount of lost revenue and the degree of part-time. Non-profits and non-taxable institutions receieve 10 000 NOK for each man-month. |
10/09/2020 |
Direct grants |
Non-financial corporations |
Enterprises with at least 10 percent of drop in revenue as a result of the virus outbreak will receive government support for each temprarily laid off person that the busniess takes back. The amount of support will depend, among other things, on the amount of lost revenue and the degree of part-time. Non-profits and non-taxable institutions receieve 10 000 NOK for each man-mo |
14/03/2021 |
Direct grants |
Non-financial corporations |
Enterprises with at least 15 percent drop in revenue as a result of the virus outbreak will receive government support for each temprarily laid off person that the busniess takes back. The amount of support will depend, among other things, on the amount of lost revenue and the degree of part-time work. Non-profits and non-taxable institutions receieve 15 000 NOK for each man-month. |
10/02/2022 |
Direct grants |
Non-financial corporations |
Enterprises are reimbursed part of their wage costs for employees who would otherwise have been dismissed or laid off due to a fall in turnover as a result of certain national infection control measures introduced in December 2021. |
13/03/2020 |
CCyB |
Banking sector |
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) decided to follow Norges Bank’s advice to reduce the countercyclical capital buffer from 2.5 to 1 percent with immediate effect. |
23/03/2020 |
Borrower-based measure |
Households |
The borrower based tools are subject to a "flexibility quota" which allow the institutions to deviate from the requirements in the regulation. The flexibility quota is temporary increased from 10 per cent (8 per cent in Oslo) to 20 per cent. The Ministry of Finance has also stated that the banks may also grant deferment on interest rate and principle payments for 6 months. |
13/03/2020 |
Reporting requirements |
All financial sectors |
Postponed deadline for reporting from all financial institutions |
13/03/2020 |
Internal models |
Banking sector |
Planned circular on IRB requirements postponed |
12/03/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Offer of extraordinary three-month NOK F-loans to ensure that the policy rate passes through to money market rates. |
18/03/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank’s Guidelines for pledging securities for loans from Norges Bank was temporarily revised. The required outstanding volumes of securities was reduced. |
19/03/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Offer of extraordinary F-loans with a maturity of one week, one month, three months, six months and twelve months. |
19/03/2020 |
Swap lines |
All financial sectors |
The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of temporary U.S. dollar liquidity arrangements (swap lines) with Norges Bank (among others) |
21/03/2020 |
Asset purchase programme |
All sectors |
Reinstate the Government Bond Fund to increase liquidity and access to capital in the Norwegian bond market, where larger companies typically raise their funding. The Fund will provide up to NOK 50 billion, to be invested in bonds issued by Norwegian companies. |
24/03/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
16/03/2020 |
Other labour market measure |
Non-financial corporations |
Reduce the number of days that employers are obliged to pay salary to workers at temporary lay-offs, from 15 to 2 days. |
16/03/2020 |
Other labour market measure |
Non-financial corporations |
Remove the three waiting days between the period when employers have to provide salary to workers in temporary layoffs and the period when the workers are entitled to daily unemployment benefits. |
16/03/2020 |
Other measure |
Non-financial corporations |
Postpone the deadline for payment of employers' contributions from 15 May to 15 August 2020. |
21/03/2020 |
Other measure |
Non-financial corporations |
Purchase of home transport by air of Norwegians on travel and special shipping, NOK 100 million |
21/03/2020 |
Other measure |
Non-financial corporations |
Purchase of domestic air routes where there is no basis for commercial operations, NOK 1,000 million. |
01/02/2021 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Further reversals of the revisions to Norges Bank’s Guidelines for pledging securities for loans from Norges Bank that was introduced 18.03.2020. Securities in NOK with a guarantee from a Norwegian local government authority will continue to be exempt from the credit rating requirement. |
17/06/2021 |
CCyB |
Banking sector |
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) decided to follow Norges Bank’s advice to increase the countercyclical buffer rate from 1 to 1,5 percent with effect from 30.06.2022 |
16/06/2021 |
Swap lines |
All financial sectors |
The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of temporary US dollar liquidity arrangements (swap lines) with Norges Bank (among others) |
31/08/2021 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
The temporary changes to Norges Bank’s Guidelines for pledging securities for loans from Norges Bank introduced 18.03.2020 were repealed. See also NO-101 |
07/05/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Offer of extraordinary F-loans with a maturity of one week, one month, three months, six months and twelve months until end August. |
14/08/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
For securities other than Norwegian government securities, a borrower may not pledge more than 50 percent of the issue’s (ISIN) volume outstanding. |
29/07/2020 |
Swap lines |
All financial sectors |
The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of temporary U.S. dollar liquidity arrangements (swap lines) with Norges Bank (among others) |
14/08/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Offer of extraordinary monthly F-loans with a maturity of three months until end 2020. |
31/03/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
14/04/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
05/05/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
26/05/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
16/06/2020 |
Credit facilities |
Banking sector |
Norges Bank offered banks an F-loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months |
16/12/2020 |
Swap lines |
All financial sectors |
The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of temporary US dollar liquidity arrangements (swap lines) with Norges Bank (among others) |