Andrei.Hicks wrote on Apr 29^th, 2011 at 2:16pm:


Maybe & maybe not?



Budget:
revenues: $226.8 billion
expenditures: $187 billion (2010 est.)

Public debt:
47.7% of GDP (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 55
49.8% of GDP (2009 est.)

Looks like Annual Surplus - YES?
And, Debt - YES!
So Norway qualifies on one count, but not the other, IF you are only looking at gross Debt.

However, Norway also has a "Soveriegn Wealth Fund", which in effect is their Baby Boomer Pension Fund, which stood at some US$525 billion, as the 31/12/2010.
So, if you are looking at Norway's "Net Financial Debt/Surplus" position, then Norway has a substantial Surplus, as its National Debt of about 50% of its GDP, which stands around US$440 Billion, is well within its  "Soveriegn Wealth Funds" credit position of US$525 Billion
Link -
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/no.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway

I don't know I would put too much trust in some of those figures (Debt/ GDP), after all, they were produced by the CIA.

Finally, I may have to make an apology, as I have been a little harsh, in suggesting that almost all Politicians are worth 2 knobs of goat sh!t.

Having now looked at what the Norway Pollies have done, I may need to look further at them, as they may need to be excluded, seeing as to how they may have properly accounted for the Baby Boomer Bust Pension & Health needs.

All of which, goes to suggest that it could have & should have been done properly?

And, again to give credit where it is due, at least the Libs under Howard did some provisioning in the "Future Fund". However, it is nowhere near sufficient!