Norwegian Krone - NOK

The Norwegian Krone (NOK – « norsk krone » in Norwegian) has been the national currency of the Kingdom of Norway since its independence (separation from the kingdom of Sweden) in 1905.

In 1964, Norway associated to the Bretton Woods Agreements of 1944 that planned fixed parities of the great worldwide currencies between them and the gold convertibility of the American Dollar.

The fixed parity of the Norwegian Krone was: 1 GBP = 20 NOK and 1 USD = 4.03 NOK.

From 1973, Norway adopts the floating exchange rates regime that would be the one of many great currencies that abandoned the Bretton Woods’ fixed parities, being in the line of the European Monetary Snake (definition of the European currencies between each other with semi-floating or semi-fixed parities).

Nevertheless, from 1978, the Norwegian krone finds its way out of the « Snake » and maintains its floating currency without this constraint (except from 1990 to 1992 when the NOK was linked to the ECU).

Without being member of the European Union (Norwegian people refused it by referendum in 1972 and 1994), Norway participates in the single market via the Schengen customs conventions, and in the European Union’s common Security and foreign policy.

Against the Euro, the Norwegian Krone clearly increased in value from 2001 to January 2003 (EUR/NOK = 7.2420), then the change value of the EUR/NOK cross maintained between 7.80 and 8.50 until August 2008, before a very strong appreciation of the Euro in the context of the exchange market assets collapse in all the world financial centers (and the concomitant collapse of the oil exchange rates, Norway is an important oil exporter and its currency exchange rates depends largely on oil), the EUR/NOK reach its higher point of 9.9450 in December 2008.

An important adjustment happened then in favor of the Norwegian Krone : EUR/NOK = 8.2840 in October 2009.