Norway's crown currency has strengthened more than expected in recent weeks, deputy central bank Governor Jon Nicolaisen told Reuters on the sidelines of a business conference on Tuesday. Norges Bank held its key policy interest rate unchanged at 0.50 percent on September 22 and said rates would most likely stay unchanged in the next several years, abandoning a plan for a further cut as economic conditions were improving. "We anticipated a certain crown strength in our monetary policy report, but not quite as much as we've seen now," Nicolaisen said in an interview.