In particular, and in keeping with previous communications, the Governing Council acted – with a package of expansionary measures – in response to inflation rates, both realised and projected for the coming years, which have remained persistently below the ECB’s aim, in line with its commitment to symmetry in relation to this aim. In this context, symmetry means that the ECB undertakes to act with the same determination whether inflation is persistently above or below 2%.1 In particular, the Governing Council of the ECB took the decision to decrease the interest rate on the deposit facility by 10 basis points to -0.50% and reinforced its forward guidance on interest rates by indicating that they will remain at their present or lower levels until it is seen that the inflation outlook robustly converges to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2%. Such convergence should also be consistently reflected in the observed behaviour of underlying inflation. The ECB also agreed to restart net purchases under its asset purchase programme (APP) at a monthly pace of € billion as from 1 November and without a defined time limit. In order to preserve favourable bank lending conditions, the modalities of the new series of quarterly targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) were also changed, eliminating the 10 bp spread established on the interest rates applied to them and extending their maturity from two to three years.
In 2006, the name was changed to the Government Pension Fund – Global. In spite of the name change, the Fund is more similar to an endowment than to a pension fund. Since the first transfer of some USD 400 million was made in 1996, the Fund has grown rapidly in size. Its assets are currently valued at around USD 400 billion. One third of the portfolio, about USD 130 billion is invested here in North America. The Fund is expected to grow rapidly in coming years, and may double in 5-10 years. The Fund was established as a tool to support prudent management of Norway’s petroleum wealth. One purpose is to shield the non-oil economy from price fluctuations (see Chart 3). The Fund is also a long-term savings instrument. It will help to cope with future financial commitments linked to an ageing population. Accumulation of capital in the Fund reflects the depletion of a non-renewable resource, which is exchanged for financial assets through the Fund’s investments. By setting up the Fund, it became possible to establish a path for production of oil and gas that is independent of the profile for petroleum revenue spending. Furthermore, to effectively shield the non-oil economy, and to make sure that private sector investment decisions could be made independently of the public sector’s saving of petroleum wealth, the Fund is only invested abroad. This also enhances the expected return on government wealth and reduces the risk.