Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund recorded strong returns in the first half of the year

In the first half of 2021, the Government Pension Fund Global returned 9.4 percent, equivalent to 990 billion kroner.

The return on the fund’s equity investments was 13.7 percent, the return on the fixed-income investments was -2.0 percent, whereas investments in unlisted real estate returned 4.6 percent. The return on unlisted renewable energy infrastructure was -1.9 percent.

The fund’s return was 28 basis points higher than the return on the benchmark index.

“The equity investments had the most positive contribution to the return in the first half of the year, especially the investments within the energy and finance sectors. The investments in energy companies returned 19.5 percent”, says CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management Nicolai Tangen.

The health and technology sectors have had solid returns throughout the Corona pandemic, and the increase continued in the first half of the year.

“Technology companies returned 16.8 percent. Several major technology companies saw a continued increase within digital advertisement”, Tangen says.

The krone strengthened against several major currencies in course of the first half of the year. Currency movements contributed to a decrease in the fund’s value of 79 billion kroner. In the first half of the year, 147 billion kroner was withdrawn from the fund.

The fund had a value of 11,673 billion kroner as at 30 June 2021. 72.4 percent of the fund was invested in equities, 25.1 percent in fixed income, 2.4 percent in unlisted real estate, and 0.1 percent in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure.