NATO’s Stoltenberg to become Norway’s next central bank chief

Norway’s government on Friday appointed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as its next central bank chief, handing the former prime minister his latest top job. 

The appointment all but confirms that Stoltenberg will leave his current role as head of the Western defense alliance as planned at the end of September. He will start at the Norwegian central bank around the beginning of December, the finance ministry said. 

The move also signals that the race to find Stoltenberg’s NATO successor can now start in earnest, with a raft of names including former Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė already in the frame.

As head of Norway’s central bank, known as Norges Bank, Stoltenberg will oversee not only the oil-rich country’s monetary policy but also its sovereign wealth fund — the world’s largest. 

Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, whose department led the recruitment process, told a news conference that Stoltenberg — an economist, former Norwegian finance minister and two-time prime minister — was the best candidate to run Norges Bank because of his “broad leadership experience” and ability to guide organizations through “challenging times and crises.” 

For the past seven-and-a-half years, Stoltenberg served as NATO chief at a time of heightened Russian aggression against its neighbors and wavering support for the alliance from former U.S. President Donald Trump. Stoltenberg also led Norway during the aftermath of an attack by a far-right terrorist in 2011 which claimed 77 lives and he was widely praised for how he handled what was a national trauma. 

“Jens Stoltenberg’s political experience and his understanding of society will be great strengths in the role of central bank governor,” Slagsvold Vedum said.

Stoltenberg faced stiff competition for his new post from the current deputy central bank governor Ida Wolden Bache, who will lead the institution until the new governor takes over.

Wolden Bache’s supporters said her long experience of monetary policy made her better suited to the top job than Stoltenberg, whom they argue is too politically close to the current Norwegian government to defend the independence of the central bank. Current Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre took over as head of the Social Democratic Party from Stoltenberg and the two are seen as close.

Slagsvold Vedum, who leads the Center Party, the junior party in the current government, acknowledged the concerns over central bank independence at Friday’s press conference, saying it would “have been easier to name someone else.” But he added that it would have been wrong to do so given the strength of Stoltenberg’s record in public office.

Stoltenberg appeared by video link at the press conference and said he was grateful to have been appointed to lead an institution he said had a key role in the economic future of Norway.

“I have huge respect for the role Norges Bank plays in Norwegian society and for the people who work there and I look forward to working with them all,” he said.