A number of legislative, taxation and budgetary decisions were made, and several petition resolutions were passed. The second reading of the legislative amendments will be conducted at a later sitting.

Since the coronavirus crisis began, considerable changes have been made to the Fiscal Budget for 2020. A large number of other decisions have been taken in the Storting. These aim to limit the impact of the current situation on the business sector and jobs; to fund measures in the health service; and to provide essential resources for NAV (the Labour and Welfare Administration) and municipal and county authorities.

Changes to the Fiscal Budget include:

• Extra funding to local authorities as compensation for additional expenditures
• An increase in county municipality block grants to support further education and in-house training for businesses that have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak
• Permission to exceed appropriations for medicines, medical equipment and laboratory analysis in the specialist health services and municipal health and care services
• The deferral of wealth tax for owners of businesses that make a loss in 2020
• Temporary permission to write back business losses in 2020 against taxed profits for the previous two years
• Suspension of the air passenger tax during the period 1st January to 31^st October 2020
• Supplementary funding for NAV (the Labour and Welfare Administration)
• A reduction in the number of days employers are obliged to pay the wages of laid-off workers (from 15 to 2), and the right for those who are laid off to receive unemployment benefit from the first day. (The changes will apply until 31st October 2020)
• Loan guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized businesses (ceiling of NOK 50 billion) and loan loss provisions for the scheme (NOK 10 billion)
• The re-establishment of the Government Bond Fund to extend credit access for Norwegian companies and to contribute to increased liquidity and capital in the bond market (ceiling of NOK 50 billion)
• An aviation guarantee scheme (guaranteeing loans to airlines) totalling NOK 6 billion. Of these, NOK 3 billion is directed to Norwegian Air Shuttle, 1.5 billion to SAS AB and the remaining 1.5 billion to other airlines, including Widerøe
• The purchase of domestic air routes where there is no basis for commercial operations
• Purchase flights home for Norwegians who are on travel abroad
• Postponed and reduced value added tax (VAT) – a reduction in the low VAT rate from 12 to 8 per cent during the period 1^st April to 30^th October 2020
• Postponed deadlines for the payment of employers’ social insurance contribution and advance tax for companies 
• The authority to raise new long-term domestic government loans (up to NOK 125 billion)

 

A series of new petition resolutions

A petition resolution is a Storting decision in which a parliamentary majority asks the Government to do something or to ensure that something is done.

• A temporary scheme to secure freelancers and the self-employed from loss of earnings
• Application-based compensation scheme for culture, sport and the voluntary sector
• A temporary scheme through the State Educational Loan Fund to help students who experience a loss of earnings
• If necessary, the facilitation of state ownership in particularly important Norwegian companies
• Compensation for airlines who operate necessary but financially unviable routes
• Measures to ensure that vital functions in society and public bodies such as municipalities, the health service and NAV are guaranteed the required resources to be able to cope with the practical consequences of the pandemic
• Compensation for municipalities and county municipalities for loss of tax revenues, other income and for additional expenditures as a result of the pandemic
• The drawing-up of a fixed-period crisis package for Svalbard
• Ensuring sufficient hospital funding for planning and strengthening intensive care services, and covering the cost of medicines and medical equipment for hospitals and other health care providers
• Ensuring sufficient funding for the Directorate of Health and the Institute of Public Health
• Securing the proper running of crisis centres, child protection services, the support structure for especially vulnerable children and young people, and support measures for families with special care needs
• A scheme to secure apprentices who have been laid off from loss of earnings
• The temporary right to transfer care benefits to the other parent/guardian in families where key personnel are obliged to work as a result of the pandemic
• Ensuring that offsets in income as a result of the coronavirus measures are not deductible in housing allowance
• Employers’ social insurance contributions reduced by 4 percentage points for a period of two months
• NOK 250 million compensation to the counties of Finnmark and Nord-Troms for the impact of the pandemic in the public sector
• Reduced fares on state road ferries for a limited period
• Enabling county municipalities to make use of the funds for in-house company training and ensuring that employees benefit from these as quickly as possible