By Reuters Staff
(Adds finmin quotes, GDP forecast, detail)
OSLO, May 11 (Reuters) - Norway should spend a record amount of cash from its $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund this year as it continues to battle the pandemic’s economic impact, the centre-right minority coalition government told parliament on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner now proposes withdrawing 402.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($48.66 billion) from the wealth fund in 2021, up from 331.1 billion crowns seen last November.
“Extraordinary economic support measures related to the pandemic account for a large bulk of the increase,” Sanner said in a statement.
The government of Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, which lags the centre-left opposition in opinion polls ahead of a September parliamentary election, will now negotiate with the right-wing Progress Party in the hope of passing the budget.