Svalbard and Jan Mayen - Norwegian Krone - Currency Guide

General Currency Info - Norwegian Krone

In 2016, the Norwegian krone contributed to 1.7% of total foreign exchange market volume, and as such was the world's fourteenth most traded currency. The krone is subdivided into 100 øre and was introduced in the late nineteenth century.

Norway’s economy, and consequently the value of the krone, is heavily reliant on oil and gas prices since nearly half of the country’s total exports are these commodities. The krone is therefore aptly termed a ‘petro-currency’. As of 2016, Norway was the world’s tenth largest oil exporter.

Since 1995, the krone’s lowest valuation against the US dollar came in October 2000 when USD/NOK reached 9.65. The currency was strongest in April 2008 when USD/NOK fell to just 4.94 following a boom in the oil price. Against the euro, since the single currency's introduction in 1999, EUR/NOK has traded between 7.21 and 10.16.

NOK News, Forecasts and Trends

Sentiment on the krone improved drastically in June after Norway’s central bank raised interest rates and signalled further hikes this year, thereby bucking the trend for lower-rates globally.

Prior to this, against the US dollar, the krone had tested the massive 8.8 per USD level, a break of which would have had the krone at its weakest level in 3 years. The greenback was back buying 8.5 krone at the time of this report.

Late last year, against the euro, the krone struck a 10-year low of 10.057 per EUR; it has since recovered to levels near 9.65.

Danske Bank said following June’s meeting of the Norges Bank that it favoured more krone strength in the third quarter.

The above interactive chart shows the USD to NOK exchange rate, trend and recent alerts for the last 90 days.

Travel, Currency and Money saving tips for Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Svalbard and Jan Mayen are combined for the purposes of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) category, they are not administratively related. This has further resulted in the country code top-level domain .sj being issued for Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic about midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The administrative center is Longyearbyen, and other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the research community of Ny-Ålesund and the mining outpost of Sveagruva. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty,[5] and the 1925 Svalbard Act made Svalbard a full part of the Kingdom of Norway. The archipelago is administrated by the Governor of Svalbard, which is subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police. Unlike the rest of Norway (including Jan Mayen), Svalbard is a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone, and is not part of the Schengen Area nor the European Economic Area.

Jan Mayen is a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean located at the border of the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea. The single island covers an area of 377 square kilometres (146 sq mi) and is dominated by the 2,277-metre (7,470 ft) tall Beerenberg volcano. The island's only population is a combined military and meteorological outpost that operates a LORAN-C transmitter at Olonkinbyen. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed the island for Norway in 1922. On 27 February 1930, the island was made de jure a part of the Kingdom of Norway.

Travel money for Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Save money and time by Ordering your Norwegian Krone online from Travelex, you get better rates and can pick up the NOK cash locally or even on travel day at the airport.

Another popular option is to use a Pre-paid Travel Card. Your Debit/Credit Card provider will charge you 2% from market mid-rate, but your bank may also charge an extra 3% as an “Overseas Transaction Charge” plus “Overseas ATM” fees for withdrawing cash.

For card purchases if offered a choice of currencies always select to Pay in Norwegian Krone otherwise you may get much worst exchange rates.

Sending money to Svalbard and Jan Mayen

When searching around for information on how to get a good exchange rate when sending money to Svalbard and Jan Mayen you need to start with finding out the latest Norwegian Krone exchange rate for foreign-transfers, which can be very different to the wholesale rate.

Then compare your bank's exchange rates to several licensed FX providers exchange rate and fees to see how much you can save - we make that calculation easy in the below table.

Get a better deal for foreign transfers to Svalbard and Jan Mayen

When sending money to Svalbard and Jan Mayen it’s important to compare your bank’s rates & fees with those we have negotiated with our partner money transfer providers. To get a better deal you should follow these 4 simple steps :

1. Open an account with a BER reviewed FX provider (id docs may be required)
2. You specify the local or Norwegian Krone amount you want to transfer
3. Make a local currency domestic transfer for the requested amount to the provider's bank account in your country
4. Once your funds are received by the provider the converted NOK amount will be transfered to the recipient account you specify in Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

Use the above Send to Norwegian Krone calculator to compare the exchange rates of FX specialist providers rates versus your bank's standard rates you can hopefully save around 5% and maybe more - end result is more Norwegian Krone deposited into the recipient bank account and less margins and fees kept by the banks!