OSLO, Dec 7 — Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, topped the symbolic 20-trillion-kroner mark (RM7.9 trillion) on Friday for the first time.
A ticker on its website showed the fund, which invests the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenues, was worth almost 20.05 trillion kroner around 4.00pm yesterday.
The fund has stakes in nearly 8,800 companies in 71 countries, representing 1.5 per cent of the world’s total market capitalisation.
It also has a large bond portfolio accounting for almost 27 per cent of its assets, as well as real estate investments and shares in unlisted renewable energy projects.
The fund is intended to finance Norway’s generous welfare state when its oil and gas deposits run dry.
Officially created in 1990, the state’s first deposit was for a modest 1.9 billion kroner in 1996.
By 2019, the fund’s value exceeded 10 trillion kroner, and it has therefore now doubled in five years.
Today, the fund is equivalent to the sum of 3.6 million kroner for each of Norway’s 5.6 million inhabitants, including children. — AFP
