Prompt and extensive write-downs of bad assets and recapitalisation of banks limited the downturn in Nordic economies in mid-1990s, said Svein Gjedrem, the governor of the Norges Bank.

Gjedrem said that the economic downturn caused by the Nordic crisis lasted only few years while in Japan, where loan losses were recognised too slowly, economic decline was more substantial and prolonged.

However, the governor also said that the situation of banks in today's crisis was more complex and that cross