Norway's fiscal year coincides with the calendar year. As one of the per capita richest countries in the world, Norway has a great deal of money to spend on investment, focusing especially on the offshore oil sector. The government maintains a Petroleum Fund that reached $67 billion at the end of 2001. The Fund will be used to finance government programs once oil and gas resources are depleted.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that in 2000 Norway's central government took in revenues of approximately $71.7 billion and had expenditures of $57.6 billion. Overall, the government registered a surplus of approximately $14.1 billion. External debt totaled $0.