Norway's state pension fund saw a global return of 19.9%, or 1.69 trillion kroner ($180 billion), in 2019, according to fund manager, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) on Thursday.
This is the highest return measured in kroner in a single year in the fund’s history. It is also the second best return measured as a percentage.
'2019 has been a very good year for the fund. The market value of the fund increased by 1.83 trillion kroner to 10.09 trillion kroner at the end of the year. This is the greatest increase in value in a single year in the fund’s history,' said Oystein Olsen, chair of Norges Bank’s Executive Board.
Equity investments returned 26%, unlisted real estate investments returned 6.8%, and the return on fixed income investments was 7.6%. The fund’s total return was 0.23 percentage points higher than the return on the benchmark index.
'2019 has been a great year in the fund’s history, driven by positive equity returns in all of the fund’s principal markets and in all equity sectors,' said CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management Yngve Slyngstad.
The fund totaled 10.09 trillion kroner as at Dec. 31, 2019, of which 70.8% was invested in equity, 2.7% in unlisted real estate and 26.5% in fixed income.
The krone depreciated against several of the main currencies over the course of the year. This contributed to an increase in the fund’s value of 127 billion kroner. For the year as a whole, the transfer of capital from the Norwegian government amounted to 18 billion kroner.
1 krone equals US$0.11
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
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