BRUSSELS (MNI) – High debt levels in many countries have
contributed to renewed financial turbulence, the Norges Bank said in its
financial stability report, published Tuesday.
“There is renewed financial market turbulence abroad owing to high
government debt in many countries, but measures taken by the EU, ECB and
IMF this past weekend seem to have calmed financial markets,” the Norges
Bank said in its quarterly report.
“Norges Bank is monitoring money market developments closely and
will contribute to smoothly functioning markets,” it said.
The central bank said other than that, the financial stability
outlook in Norway is unchanged since the previous report – which looked
at the fourth quarter of 2009 – but better than it was a year ago.
The reason for this, the Norges Bank said, is that Norwegian banks
have posted good earnings and are “more solid” than one year earlier.
It said Norway’s banks would be required to raise more long-term
funding and hold more liquid assets under new EU and EEA regulations
that will come in to force later this year.
“More resilient banks will reduce the risk of future crises in the
financial system,” the Norges Bank said.
–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
