For every kroner politicians spend on new measures that are not yet in the state budget for this year, something else must be cut or the use of oil money increased. If we spend too much money, ordinary people and corporations have to quickly take charge of the higher interest rates.

Therefore rest It’s a huge responsibility at Storting to look after people’s wallets, both today and in the future.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine brought with it inhuman suffering. Therefore, it is also right to spend money to face the consequences of war, also at home. Our city will make great efforts to resolve Ukrainian refugees.

Kindergarten and school will accept Ukrainian children and youth and offer them a good education. Volunteering comes with an extra offer. And there is a need to strengthen the Armed Forces and civilian and military readiness.

We did the same during the refugee crisis in 2015. We enabled states and municipalities to welcome people in kind, increase healthcare capacity, collaborate with the volunteer sector and set up care centers at a rapid rate, to name a few.

There’s no shame in turning around

We spend extra money on actions that are really needed. But for the most part, we closed by re-prioritizing the state budget. When we presented the NOK 9.5 billion package to address the refugee crisis, only NOK 1.2 billion was drawn from the Petroleum Fund.

All crises need crisis measures. But we cannot treat the crisis package as an ordinary budget, where all parties must negotiate various matters of the heart in order to provide support for the absolutely necessary increase in spending. There is an important difference between what we should spend money on and what it would be nice to spend money on.

It’s not that spending our money doesn’t have consequences. Sometimes it’s easy to think that Norway has such great advice, and therefore it’s fine to shell out a few extra billions once we get started. High fuel prices. We could have introduced our own compensation scheme for this.

Higher food prices. We can also introduce our own compensation scheme for this. But for every kroner we spend, something else has to be cut, or the use of oil money increases. And the more oil money we spend, the more likely it is that interest rates will rise faster and more than necessary.

Dagbladet shoots past the target

A one percentage point increase in interest rates means about NOK 40,000 more in interest costs each year for a family with a mortgage of NOK 4 million. Therefore, I am much more concerned about a rapid and lasting increase in interest rates, than a period of high prices for individual goods.

Latest forecast to Norges Bank actually indicates that people’s purchasing power will increase, despite higher prices and higher interest rates. The wage settlement we have today involves real wage growth. People who regularly consume electricity, gasoline, and other goods are compensated at higher prices than wage growth. And even after interest rates rise, people will earn more. But it’s a delicate balance.

The fact that people are making a profit presupposes that we control inflation and that interest rates don’t have to be raised more than planned. To overcome this, we must avoid spending too much money on the state budget.

The state must exercise restraint to avoid too much economic pressure. If we lose control, people across the country may be at risk of losing ground, as interest rates and inflation rise.

To blame Trump

That is why It is a pity that the government only proposes a fee to deal with the consequences of war, without at the same time proposing where the money should be taken.

The most important thing we do now to protect people’s wallets is to avoid politicians spending too much money, and that we get as little money as possible that we should spend from the oil fund, but re-prioritize.