If dived on each single of Norway’s five million inhabitants, the Government’s Pension Fund Global would give NOK 1 million. The market value of the fund is currently NOK 5,100,264,387,574 kroner (€609 billion).
For fun, every Norwegian (and others) can click into the portal and check the current market value and growth second-by-second.
Each Norwegian’s millionaire status is however only on paper. No one can get their hands on their one million kroner (€120,000). The money is safely invested around the globe in equity and fixed-income markets and real estate.
The fund was set up to give the government room for manoeuvring in fiscal policy should oil prices drop or the mainland economy contract. It also served as a tool to manage the financial challenges of an ageing population and an expected drop in petroleum revenue. The fund was designed to be invested for the long term, but in a way that made it possible to draw on when required.
The market value of the fund has doubled over the last five years and tenfold over the last ten years, according to the overview published by Norges Bank Investment Management.
The fund is now the world’s largest state investment fund and owns approximately 1,25 percent of all stocks registered on the stock-markets globally.
In Russia, the fund owns shares in 63 companies that had a market value of NOK 25 million (€3,3 billion), by December 31, 2012.
