Norway shatters wealth fund spending cap amid pandemic

The National Institute of Public Health's new app Smittestopp (Infection Stop) for infection tracking is pictured, in Oslo, Norway. The app is intended to help authorities with infection detection, but can also be used to alert the user that he or she has been close to someone infected with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). — NTB Scanpix/Heiko Junge/Reuters

OSLO: Norway will sharply raise spending this year from its trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, the government said on Tuesday, exceeding a self-imposed cap for the first time in over a decade to aid an economy reeling from the novel coronavirus crisis.

Cash withdrawal from the fund is now projected to hit a record 419.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($40.6 billion) in 2020, the Finance Ministry's mid-year fiscal review showed, up from 243.6 billion crowns seen last October.