Norway’s government presented its Revised National Budget for 2025 with a primary focus on safeguarding the economy on 15 May 2025.

The revised budget introduces modest tax measures, including a reduction in electricity tax, a tax deferral programme for the agricultural sector, and incentives for commercial enterprises utilising renewable energy.

Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg stated that protecting the Norwegian economy is a top priority due to ongoing trade conflicts and security issues.

“The revised national budget underscores the government’s top priority of ensuring economic stability. A new and more challenging geopolitical situation, along with ongoing trade conflicts, creates significant global uncertainty. This makes responsible governance even more important,” he said.

“Reduced global trade contributes to lower global growth, which also impacts the Norwegian economy. However, we still expect growth to pick up, with unemployment remaining low. Our job now is to safeguard the country, welfare, and people’s finances.” 

Changes to the budget

The revised national budget presents updated estimates for expenditures, revenues, and other necessary adjustments, including new projections for national insurance. The government also proposes several additional allocations to follow up on previously announced and approved measures, including increased support for Ukraine and a fixed electricity price for Norwegian households:

  • NOK 50 billion in increased military support for Ukraine.
  • Increased municipal transfers to cover increased pension costs due to the new public contractual pension scheme.
  • Higher expenses under national insurance based on updated estimates.
  • Fixed electricity price scheme for households and holiday home owners – a fixed price of NOK 0.4 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), excluding VAT and other taxes from 1 October 2025, along with support measures for district heating.
  • Reduced electricity tax by NOK 0.44 per kWh from 1 July 2025, with the aim of abolishing the Enova levy from 1 January 2026.
  • Additional defence budget increases to establish a temporary NATO air operations centre.
  • Lower expenses for the reception and integration of refugees due to lower forecasts for refugee arrivals.

Earlier, on 7 October 2024, Norway’s government proposed amendments to the exit tax regulations in the National Budget 2025.