Positive results for all asset classes
The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) returned 7.6 percent, or NOK 544 billion, in 2014.
Equity investments returned 7.9 percent, fixed-income investments 6.9 percent, and real estate investments 10.4 percent.
"2014 was a good year for the GPFG, with positive results for all its asset classes," says Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. "Strong stock markets in the first half of the year and falling yields made a positive contribution to the results."
The relative return was weaker than in previous years. The overall return on GPFG equity and fixed-income investments was 0.8 percentage point lower than the return on the benchmark indices. This can be explained mainly by a higher weight of European stocks and the shorter duration of fixed-income investments compared with the benchmark.
The share invested in real estate climbed to 2.2 percent, and a separate leader group for real estate was established to build a separate organisation for these investments.
"Never before have we made as many property investments as we did last year, and we will continue to step up these investments in the coming years," says Slyngstad. "We're delighted to have in place a separate leader group for real estate to drive our planned expansion in this area."
The krone weakened against many of the main currencies during the year, which increased the GPFG's value by NOK 702 billion, and new capital of NOK 147 billion was transferred from the government.
The market value of the GPFG was NOK 6,431 billion at 31 December, of which 61.3 percent was invested in equities, 36.5 percent in fixed income and 2.2 percent in real estate.
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