Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global made a return of 19.9 per cent in 2019, equivalent to NOK 1,692bn.

It is the highest return for the fund, measured in kroner, for a single year in the fund’s history, and it is the second-best return measured as a percentage.

Commenting, Norges Bank Executive Board, chair, Øystein Olsen, said: "2019 has been a very good year for the fund. The market value of the fund increased by NOK 1,832bn to NOK 10,088bn at the end of the year. This is the greatest increase in value in a single year in the fund’s history.”

The equity investments returned 26 per cent. The unlisted real estate investments returned 6.8 per cent, whereas the return on the fixed income investments was 7.6 per cent. The fund’s total return was 0.23 percentage points higher than the return on the benchmark index.

Norges Bank Investment Management CEO, Yngve Slyngstad, said: "2019 has been a great year in the fund’s history, driven by positive equity returns in all of the fund’s principal markets and in all equity sectors.”

The NOK 10,088bn fund value, as at 31 December 2019, is made up of 70.8 per cent equities, 2.7 per cent in unlisted real estate and 26.5 per cent in fixed income.

The krone depreciated against several of the main currencies in the course of the year. This contributed to an increase in the fund’s value of NOK 127bn. The transfer of capital from the Norwegian government was NOK 18bn for the year as a whole.

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