Norway

• Author: Christopher Coakley
• Position: a Communications Officer in the IMF’s Communications Department.

Currency Notes

Norway’s new banknotes won’t enter circulation until 2017 but they have already been described as the world’s coolest currency. What do the bold designs—and even the selection process—tell us about this Nordic nation?

Norway is on top of the world in more

ways than one. Geographically speaking,

its lands reach deep into the Arctic Circle, and the nation of 5 million is also at the pinnacle of the UN’s economic and societal rankings.

Monarchy and democracy

In December 2012, the Bank of Norway began the long process of launching new banknotes, citing the need to update anticounterfeiting features. In 2014, it launched a competition to find a design that would meet both security and aesthetic requirements.

Working with jury members from various walks of life, the bank took the unusual step of choosing a combination of two proposals to take forward for production.

The front of the notes will be developed from design firm The Metric System’s “Norwegian Living Space” proposal and the reverse from Snøhetta Design’s “Beauty of Boundaries” submission. The blending of proposals addressing space and boundaries appears harmonious. And the fair, open competition process with more than one winner seems to reflect Norway’s reputation for democracy and inclusiveness.

Besides being a poster child for democracy, Norway is a constitutional monarchy, and the evolution of its banknotes traces a certain shift in its society’s focus. The first bills, in the late 19th century, all depicted the king. In recent decades, they have honored citizens prominent in the arts and sciences, such as the painter Edvard Munch. The Bank of Norway’s choice of theme for the new banknotes is the sea.

The sea

Norway’s unique coastline of fjords has always been more of a gateway than a border, and the sea has been the lifeblood of its economy and culture. Exploration was the business of the Vikings, who raided and traded across Europe (and beyond) from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries. Nowadays “exploration” is more often associated with the offshore oil industry. Petroleum accounts for about a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. These benefits are shared. Oil revenue feeds into a huge sovereign wealth fund, used to serve the country as a whole.

These...