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Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg to leave job

Stoltenberg will become Norway’s new central bank chief

Terje Solsvik
Friday 04 February 2022 08:23 EST
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Stoltenberg will leave in September
Stoltenberg will leave in September (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is to leave his job.

The announcement comes at a time of high tensions in Europe over fears of war between Russia and Ukraine. Mr Stoltenberg will become Norway’s new central bank chief, the Oslo government said on Friday.

The appointment ends any speculation that Stoltenberg would stay on at NATO, and the search for a successor must begin in earnest ahead of a meeting of member nation leaders in June this year.

Mr Stoltenberg has said he would first serve out his term at NATO, which runs until the end of September 2022. He had been in charge at Nato since 2014.

Stoltenberg will be in charge of setting interest rates and managing financial stability as well as overseeing Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest with assets of $1.4 trillion.

“I’ve been concerned with identifying the best central bank governor for Norway, and I’m convinced that this is Jens Stoltenberg,” Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said in a statement.

Stoltenberg, an economist by training and former leader of the Labour Party, was Norwegian prime minister from 2000-01 and 2005-13 before becoming NATO chief the following year.

He has also been finance minister and energy minister. Ida Wolden Bache, deputy chief of the central bank and Stoltenberg’s main rival for the job, will be the acting governor until Stoltenberg takes over, the government said.

Reuters

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