The money supply M2, February 2008

At end-February more than half (NOK 749 billion) of the broad monetary aggregate was owned by households. The annual growth in household gross debt to end-February was even stronger (11.4 per cent) than the growth in household money supply, see the credit indicator C2 . For more information on the financial position of households, see the financial accounts in the national accounts .

Reduced growth in money supply

The twelve-month growth in total money supply fell from 15.8 per cent to 14.5 per cent during February. The money supply amounted to NOK 1 437 billion at end-February.

Slowdown in non-financial enterprise money supply growth

Non-financial enterprise money supply amounted to NOK 496 billion at end-February. The twelve-month growth was 13.0 per cent, down from 15.5 per cent to the previous month. This growth rate has been decreasing on the whole since December 2006 when it reached 35.5 per cent. The continued strong growth may be related to the rise in production and profitability in business and industry. As described by the credit indicator C2 , the growth in enterprise gross debt was also high (20.7 per cent).

Composition of money supply

The broad monetary aggregate M2 amounted to NOK 1 437 billion at end-January, of which the major part (89 per cent) consisted of bank deposits. In comparison, notes and coins only accounted for 3 per cent of the broad money. The rest of the broad money mainly consisted of shares in money market funds (7 per cent), while certificates of deposits accounted for 1 per cent.