The Annual Report is submitted to the Ministry of Finance and communicated to the King in Council and to the Storting in the Government's Kredittmeldingen (Credit Report). The Governor of Norges Bank provides an assessment of monetary policy in an open hearing before the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs in connection with the Storting deliberation on the Credit Report.
Developments in inflation, adjusted for some temporary factors, provide a basis for assessing the monetary stance. It is important in this context that the operational objective of monetary policy is a rise in consumer prices of close to 2.5 per cent over time, and not an inflation rate of this magnitude at all times. The precision in attaining the inflation target that can reasonably be expected from monetary policy must also be taken into account.
Norges Bank expressed its views on the monetary policy mandate in its submission to the Ministry of Finance of 27 March 2001. The submission stated the following: "If there are significant deviations between actual price inflation and the target, the Bank will provide a thorough assessment in its annual report. Particular emphasis will be placed on any deviations outside the interval of +/- 1 percentage point."