OSLO: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, on Tuesday reached the value of $1 trillion dollars for the first time, the Norwegian central bank, which manages the fund, said.

This amount equals nearly $189,000 (157,000 euros) for each of the 5.3 million people living in Norway.

Established in the 1990s to manage the Norwegian state’s oil revenues, the fund set the record thanks to the appreciation of the world’s major currencies against the dollar and a good stock market health.

The fund mainly invests in stocks (accounting for 65.1 per cent of the portfolio at the end of the second quarter), but also in bonds and real estate.

With stakes in nearly 9,000 companies, it owns 1.3pc of the world’s market capitalisation, and 2.3pc in Europe.

“I don’t think anyone expected the fund to ever reach 1 trillion dollars when the first transfer of oil revenue was made in May 1996,” Yngve Slyngstad, Chief Executive Officer in Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2017