Norway’s wealth fund posts record US$164b loss
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NORWAY’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, on Tuesday (Jan 31) reported a record loss of 1.64 trillion kronor (S$207.2 billion) for 2022, bringing an end to a three-year run of soaring profits.
The previous largest loss was 633 billion kronor in 2008.
“The market was impacted by war in Europe, high inflation and rising interest rates. This negatively impacted both the equity market and bond market at the same time, which is very unusual,” chief executive Nicolai Tangen said.
The loss ends a record-breaking streak for the fund, where annual returns exceeded one trillion kronor in each of the three years from 2019 to 2021, amounting to more than four trillion kronor combined.
The fund’s return on investment in 2022 stood at minus 14.1 per cent for the year, which was 0.88 percentage points better than the return on the fund’s benchmark index.
The return on the fund’s equities was minus 15.3 per cent, while it was minus 12.1 per cent on fixed-income investments. It earned a positive 0.1 per cent return on unlisted real estate, and 5.1 per cent on renewable energy projects.
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Founded in 1996, the fund invests revenue from Norway’s oil and gas sector, and holds stakes in some 9,300 companies globally, owning 1.3 per cent of all listed stocks. It also invests in bonds, unlisted real estate and renewable energy projects. REUTERS
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