The Norges Bank, Norway’s reserve bank, in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday,Oct 17, 2023.
Bloomberg|Bloomberg|Getty Images
Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday reported record earnings of 2.22 trillion kroner ($213 billion) in 2023, supported by robust returns on its financial investments in innovation stocks.
The so-called Government Pension Fund Global, among the world’s biggest financiers, stated the outcome marked its greatest return in kroner ever, with the fund’s roi in 2015 being available in at 16.1% for the year. That was 18 basis points lower than the return on the fund’s benchmark index.
It follows a record loss of 1.64 trillion kroner for the entire of 2022, which the fund credited to “very unusual” market conditions at the time.
“Despite high inflation and geopolitical turmoil, the equity market in 2023 was very strong, compared to a weak year in 2022,” Nicolai Tangen, president of Norges Bank Investment Management, stated in a declaration.
“Technology stocks in particular performed very well,” he included.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, was developed in the 1990 s to invest the surplus profits of the nation’s oil and gas sector. To date, the fund has actually put cash in more than 8,500 business in 70 nations all over the world.
Last year, Norges Bank Investment Management stated its return on equity financial investments was 21.3%, its return on set earnings financial investments can be found in at 6.1%, while financial investments in unlisted realty returned -124%.
The fund stated an unfavorable year for its unlisted realty financial investments was because of increasing rates of interest and controlled need.
The fund returned 3.7% on financial investments in unlisted renewable resource facilities in 2023.
At completion of in 2015, Norges Bank Investment Management stated practically 80% of the fund was purchased equities, 27.1% in set earnings, 1.9% in unlisted realty and 0.1% in unlisted renewable resource facilities.
When asked at a press conference about the geopolitical problems most likely to impact stocks in 2024, Norges Bank Investment Management’s Tangen responded, “The thing is that you have geopolitical hotspots in a lot of places these days.”
“So, what are the ones that we need to look out for? Well, the tension between America and China is negative for economic growth and world trade. The fact that people are nearshoring more and moving production closer to home is an inflationary force,” he continued.
“We are seeing the result of the geopolitical stress in the Middle East through longer trading paths [and] greater freight expenses. So, that’s unfavorable. And, naturally, the most frightening geopolitical scenarios are the ones that you do not learn about, that have not occurred yet.”
