Very good results in 2021 for Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global

31 January 2022

In 2021, the Government Pension Fund Global returned 14.5 percent, equivalent to 1,580 billion kroner.

The return on the fund’s equity investments was 20.8 percent, the return on the fixed-income investments was -1.9 percent, whereas investments in unlisted real estate returned 13.6 percent. The return on unlisted renewable energy infrastructure was 4.2 percent.

The fund’s return was 0.74 percentage points higher than the return on the benchmark index, equivalent to 76 billion kroner.

“The good results are mainly due to very strong developments in the equity market throughout the year. There was good return in all sectors, but the investments in technology and financials performed particularly well. The investments in technology returned an impressive 30.2 percent”, says CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management Nicolai Tangen.

Real estate also performed strongly in 2021, after a demanding year in 2020 due to the pandemic.

“The real estate sector has had a good recovery, with listed real estate companies having performed particularly well with a return of 26.8 percent”, Tangen says.

The krone strengthened against several major currencies in course of the year. Currency movements contributed to a decrease in the fund’s value of 25 billion kroner. In 2021, 129 billion kroner was withdrawn from the fund.

The fund had a value of 12,340 billion kroner as at 31 December 2021. 72.0 percent of the fund was invested in equities, 25.4 percent in fixed income, 2.5 percent in unlisted real estate, and 0.1 percent in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure.

Source: NBIM