OSLO: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, on Tuesday reported a record loss of 1.64 trillion crowns ($164.4 billion) for 2022, bringing to an end a three-year run of soaring profits.
The previous largest loss was 633 billion crowns in 2008.
“The market was impacted by war in Europe, high inflation, and rising interest rates. This negatively impacted both the equity market and bond market at the same time, which is very unusual,” Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen said in a statement.
The loss ends a record-breaking streak for the fund where annual returns exceeded one trillion crowns in each of the three years from 2019 to 2021, amounting to more than four trillion crowns combined.
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The fund’s return on investment in 2022 stood at minus 14.1% for the year, which was 0.88 percentage point better than the return on the fund’s benchmark index.
The return on the fund’s equities was minus 15.3%, while it was minus 12.1% on fixed-income investments. It earned a positive 0.1% return on unlisted real estate and 5.1% for renewable energy projects.
Founded in 1996, the fund invests revenue from Norway’s oil and gas sector and holds stakes in some 9,300 companies globally, owning 1.3% of all listed stocks. It also invests in bonds, unlisted real estate and renewable energy projects.
