OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $930 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, lost 1.17 trillion Norwegian crowns ($114 billion) in the first quarter as stock markets plunged amid the coronavirus outbreak, it said on Thursday.
The loss for the full quarter was slightly smaller than the 1.33 trillion crowns the fund reported it had lost year-to-date on March 26.
The overall return in the first quarter was minus 14.6% compared with minus 16.2% reported year-to-date on March 26.
The fund funnels the revenues from Norway’s oil and gas production into stocks, bonds and unlisted real estate abroad.
BUYING EQUITIES?
Last week, the fund said the share of equities in its overall portfolio was 65.3%, compared with a long-term target of 70%, and that it would not say when it would start rebuilding its position.
On Thursday, the fund did not give a fresh number for the share of equities in the portfolio.
The Norwegian government has launched a series of economic measures to support the economy during the coronavirus outbreak, which will increase the amount of money it uses from the fund.
Spending from the fund, which in average years is expected to be no more than 3% of the fund’s value, could rise to between 3.9% and 4.7% in 2020, from an original plan of spending just 2.5%, the finance ministry said on Monday.
Any withdrawals from the fund by the government would come from selling assets from the fixed income portfolio, not equities or real estate, fund CEO Yngve Slyngstad said on March 26.
($1 = 10.2933 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)
