Prize money may be slashed despite Nobel intentions

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 18:52

THE Nobel Foundation may cut the prize money awarded as part of its prestigious prizes due to the effects of the global financial crisis

The foundation will honour the 1 million for each prize this year as it has done for most of the past decade. But the downturn could strain resources for future prizes.

"It might be in the future we would be forced to lower the prize," said executive director for the Nobel Foundation Michael Sohlman. "We have sailed the storm, but have taken on water."

The value of the foundation's assets had only recovered somewhat in 2009 after it lost nearly one-fifth of its invested capital last year due to the financial crisis, he added.

Prizes for the sciences and for peace were established in the will of 19th-century dynamite tycoon Alfred Nobel and have been handed out since 1901.

Nobel stipulated that 31m crowns (2.7m) should be invested in safe securities, the income from which would be distributed annually in the form of prizes.

The total cost for this year's Nobels – some 120m crowns (10.5m) – covers everything from the cash awards to a lavish banquet in Stockholm and a ceremony in Oslo at which US President Barack Obama will be awarded the Peace Prize.