23.09.2013 - To be, or not to be? – Norway’s regional involvement
Norway, home to roughly 5 million people, is often thought to be isolated from the European Union. As a colleague said to me as I sat reading about the recent Norwegian elections, “Why bother? Norway will never join the EU, with their oil they don’t need to bother with the rest of us.” This casual remark, while bearing no ill will, is disappointing. For, in truth, the Kingdom of Norway is quite involved. The Government Pension Fund Global, known as simply the Oil Fund is most likely, at a current value of 760 billion US dollars, the largest sovereign wealth fund in existence. Estimated to grow to over 1.1 trillion US dollars by 2020, the fund owns approximately 1% of world’s stocks, and 2.5 % of European publicly listed companies. The Norwegian Finance Ministry are the owners, while it is run by the Central Bank.........................................Full Article: Source
Print