Norway’s central bank is predicted to leave its key policy rate unchanged at a record low as the economy of western Europe’s biggest oil producer fights off the biggest slump in crude prices in a generation. The central bank will keep its key policy rate at 0.50% at a meeting on Thursday, according to 15 of 22 economist surveyed by Bloomberg. Seven predict a cut to 0.25%. The bank will likely keep an easing bias to avoid the krone from strengthening too much, according to DNB ASA and Nordea Bank. The currency has risen 5% on trade-weighted basis this year. “The way the economy looks now, there is no obvious need for a rate cut,” said Harald Magnus Andreassen, chief economist at Swedbank in Oslo. The bank will likely lift its rate path “a bit” without excluding the possibility that there could be another rate cut, he said.
