If you work with EU-funded projects, grants or expenses reported in euros, you may come across something called InforEuro.
It is not a live exchange rate and it is not the same as the daily EUR/NOK rate published by Norges Bank.
The InforEuro exchange rate for NOK is the European Commission's monthly accounting rate for converting between the euro and the Norwegian krone.
What is InforEuro used for?
InforEuro is mainly used for accounting purposes within EU institutions and programmes.
The rate is fixed for a calendar month, rather than changing every day. This makes it useful when expenses, grants or reimbursements need to be converted using the same reference rate throughout a reporting period.
For most people in Norway, this rate will rarely matter. But if you work with an EU programme, university project, research grant or another European funding scheme, you may be asked to use it.
That is where the distinction becomes important: the exchange rate you see today may not be the rate you are supposed to use in a report.
Why does it matter in Norway?
Norway is not an EU member, but Norwegian companies, universities and organisations take part in several EU programmes, including Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.
Some of these programmes require expenses in NOK to be converted into euros using the European Commission's accounting rate.
In practice, that means you should always check the rules of the programme first.
If they specify InforEuro, using a current bank rate or a daily EUR/NOK reference rate can produce the wrong figure.
InforEuro vs Norges Bank
The two rates have different purposes.
Norges Bank publishes exchange rates on banking days and is more useful if you want to follow the market value of NOK over time.
InforEuro uses one accounting rate for the whole month.
So if the krone moves sharply during the month, the daily EUR/NOK rate may change considerably while the InforEuro rate stays exactly the same.
For card payments, transfers or normal currency conversion, InforEuro is therefore usually not the rate you are looking for.
For EU accounting, however, it may be exactly the one you need.
Historical InforEuro NOK rates
On valuta-kurser.no you can view historical InforEuro NOK rates from 1994 to the present, month by month.
This is particularly useful if you need to check which rate applied to an older invoice, reimbursement or project expense.
One small historical detail: the euro did not exist in 1994. The oldest records therefore refer to the ECU, the European Currency Unit that preceded the euro.
Which rate should you use?
A simple rule is: Use InforEuro when the relevant EU programme, agreement or reporting rules specifically require it. For normal currency conversion, use a daily reference rate or the actual exchange rate charged by your bank.