On the other hand, there is a limit to how much interest rates can be reduced – although there are no indications that we have been close to that limit. Page 5 of 8  Later in 2015 – when the pressure had abated – we again intervened in the FX market. But this time by purchasing kroner thereby bringing FX reserves back down.
As I will return to in a minute, the substantially negative official interest rates have implied that large bank deposits by firms and institutional investors also receive negative interest rates. Households, on the other hand, have not been exposed to negative interest rates. In principle, negative interest rates can be circumvented by holding cash, which always offers a nominal return of zero.