Norwegians' giant woolen stockings shrunk, victim of coronavirus

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, the richest in the world, has not escaped the crisis. This woolen stocking, supplied since 1996 by oil revenues from the “Scandinavian emirate”, is 70% invested in equities, the securities of 9202 companies from 74 countries. He therefore suffered the turmoil in the price of societies weakened by the great confinement. In the first half of the year, according to accounts published Tuesday, the National Treasury suffered losses of 188 billion crowns, or 18 billion euros. The equivalent of the market capitalization of CAC40 flagships such as Capgemini or Legrand, gone up in smoke. In the first half of the year, the fund lost 3.4% (its equity portfolio fell 6.8%, real estate by 2.8%, while fixed-return investments returned 5, 1%). A very moderate drop compared to the roller coasters that rocked it throughout the semester.

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In the first quarter, the sovereign wealth fund lost 117 billion euros before rebounding in the following quarter by 105 billion euros. It thus signed successively the worst and then the best quarterly performance in its history. In addition to the stock market losses, there is a government grabbing the stockings, amounting to 16 billion euros, to deal with the economic crisis. At the end of the semester, this “pear for thirst” from the Kingdom of Norway was worth 989 billion euros. A month and a half later, this Tuesday, August 18, it had shrunk again, but still weighed 968 billion euros, 1.3 times the "reconstruction fund" of the European Union, to 750 billion.