Engelsk

A new publication by Danmarks Nationalbank compares the pressure on the krone during the corona crisis with three earlier periods of krone pressure over the past 12 years. The pressure on the krone in March this year was unusual because it was not impacted by for example speculation about the Danish fixed exchange rate policy. Rather, it was caused by Danish institutional investors selling kroner in response to a decline in the value of their foreign assets.

The Danish krone was under weakening pressure in March 2020, following the outbreak of covid-19. Contrary to earlier episodes of pressure, the pressure in March 2020 was not driven by speculation about the sustainability of the Danish fixed exchange rate policy or the euro. The pressure in March was driven by the domestic insurance and pension sector and the investment fund investors, who sold kroner in response to losses on their foreign exchange assets.

​In June 2020, the foreign-exchange reserve decreased by kr. 6 million to kr. 455.8 billion.

During the corona crisis, Danmarks Nationalbank has implemented new tools for its ongoing monitoring of the Danish economy. These include models for nowcasting gross domestic product, GDP, growth. Nowcasting models are advanced statistical models that process a wide range of key economic indicators and real-time indicators as they are released. The models include figures for employment, unemployment, inflation, house sales and a number of other key economic indicators as they are released. That way, the models can produce nowcasts of GDP growth for the current quarter.

​The Bank for International Settlements, BIS, announced today to establish a BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Stockholm in collaboration with the central banks in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic Innovation Centre will work to deepen the analysis of technological financial innovation relevant to central banks.

After a decline of kr. 454 billion in the 1st quarter, Danish households' net financial wealth – the difference between financial assets and debt – reached kr. 3,847 billion. This corresponds to a decrease of kr. 166 thousands for the average household since the last quarter, and thus the household's net financial wealth totals kr. 1.41 billion on average.

Denmark's international investment position, IIP, decreased in the 1st quarter of 2020 by kr. 289 billion, corresponding to a decrease of 16 per cent since the last quarter. The decrease is especially driven by large changes in share prices of foreign assets.

Danish investors have bought foreign listed portfolio stocks this year for a total of kr. 25 billion. The purchases were made especially in April and May in the wake of the large falls in the global stock indices. Buyers are primarily the insurance and pension sector, but other professional investors and private Danish investors have also bought.