Khazanah: 2016 will be another challenging year

Kuala Lumpur

KHAZANAH Nasional Bhd said that 2016 will continue to be challenging for the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund after a "rollercoaster" year which saw its assets decline amid turmoil in financial markets.

The net asset value of Khazanah's investments fell 1.6 per cent to RM109 billion (S$35.6 billion) at the end of 2015 from RM110.7 billion a year earlier, the company said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. The local stock benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index slid 3.9 per cent in 2015.

Khazanah owns stakes in some of Malaysia's biggest listed companies, whose shares have dropped as global investors pulled RM19.5 billion from the country's stock market last year. The country's wealth fund increased investments in 2015 and accelerated plans for billions of ringgit worth of projects as part of government efforts to add stimulus to the econo…