Introduction

In Financial Markets Report 2025 (Report to the Storting No. 26 (2024–2025)), the Ministry of Finance announced that it would conduct an evaluation of the Regulation on Monetary Policy. A review of the Regulation is scheduled to take place every eight years. The previous review of the mandate was conducted in 2017 and resulted in an adjustment implemented in March 2018.

In connection with the evaluation, the Ministry has asked Norges Bank to submit a written assessment of its experience with the current Regulation on Monetary Policy, together with an assessment of international experience, including experience from supply-side shocks, and recent international research on monetary policy.

This Paper presents Norges Bank’s input to the evaluation and is structured as follows: Section 2 describes economic developments between 2018 and 2025, emphasising the shocks to the Norwegian economy and the conduct of monetary policy. Developments in main macroeconomic aggregates since 2018 are also examined, and the attainment of objectives and the stability of key variables in this period are compared with the period between 2001 and 2017 when the previous mandate applied. Building on this review of economic developments, Section 3 assesses Norges Bank’s experience with the Regulation itself. Part 2 of this Paper discusses international research and practice on issues relevant to monetary policy mandates.