Nato’s Jens Stoltenberg to become governor of Norway’s central bank

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg will become Norway’s next central bank governor, officials said.

Mr Stoltenberg’s tenure at Nato ends later this year.

Norway’s government announced his appointment at the central bank in a statement and said it hopes he can start in his new role around December 1.

The current governor of Norges Bank, 70-year-old Oystein Olsen, is retiring this year after holding the position since January 1 2011, for two terms.

Mr Stoltenberg, 62, was Norway’s finance minister from 1996 to 2000, and prime minister from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.

He had previously said if he got the central bank governor position, he would not be able to start before leaving his Nato job on October 1.

He became Nato secretary-general in 2014.

After a successful first term, his mandate at the trans-Atlantic alliance was extended.

Mr Stoltenberg has been praised for steering Nato through a difficult period under the Trump administration, when the US threatened not to come to the aid of member countries that were not spending enough on defence.