Norway's wealth fund will remain calm despite losses, government says (updated)

BWX Technologies

10/04/2025 11:13

Norway's sovereign wealth fund has lost $100 bln this year

Abrupt changes in strategy must be avoided, government says

Maintains broad diversification

Adds quote, background in paragraphs 2-4, 6-7

By Terje Solsvik

OSLO, April 10 (Reuters) - Norway's $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund will adhere to broad risk diversification in the face of turbulent markets and  uphold its long-term investment strategy despite incurring huge losses so far this year, the government said on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs on imports to the United States last week, only to pause many of the reciprocal measures on Wednesday amid intense market volatility, leading to a partial rebound in global stocks.

Norway's fund, which owns about 1.5% of all globally listed stocks, has lost around 1.1 trillion Norwegian crowns ($101.38 billion) since the start of 2025 as asset prices fell sharply, the finance ministry said in an annual filing to parliament.

"Abrupt changes in strategy or ill-considered decisions must be avoided," Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"In a time of greater unpredictability, broad risk diversification remains the best approach," he added.

The world's largest fund last year earned a record $222 billion from its investments but has repeatedly warned that strong returns won't last forever.

It has previously said that its decision to buy stocks during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis was highly profitable.

The fund will, however, seek to fulfill a long-held goal of cutting some of the smaller firms from its portfolio, which currently consists of stakes in more than 9,000 companies, partly to reduce the complexity of management, the government said.

The fund invests about 70% of its assets in equities, around 25% in bonds and the rest in unlisted real estate and renewable energy infrastructure.

The government did not propose any changes to ethics rules that ban the fund from investing in many of the world's major weapons makers. Reversing the ban has been the subject of political debate in Norway in recent months.

($1 = 10.8503 Norwegian crowns)

Norway may need to let $1.8 trillion sovereign fund take stakes in arms makers, says central bank chief https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-may-need-let-18-trillion-sovereign-fund-take-stakes-arms-makers-says-2025-02-13/

Europe's top money managers start to bring defence stocks in from the cold https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/europes-top-money-managers-start-bring-defence-stocks-cold-2025-03-13/

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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