How we invest
Invested globally outside Norway
The fund is the largest single owner in the world’s stock markets and is broadly invested across countries, sectors and currencies. It holds shares, bonds and real estate all around the world, but invests only abroad so that the Norwegian economy does not overheat.
Investment areas
Equity
The equity investments are spread across 9,000 companies to capture global value creation and diversify risk as best possible. About 70 percent of the fund is invested in equities.
Fixed income
The fixed-income investments are allocated bonds issued by governments and related institutions and securities issued by companies. About 30 percent of the fund is invested in fixed income.
Real estate
We invest in high-quality real estate in a limited number of major cities and global distribution networks. Up to 7 percent of the fund can be invested in unlisted real estate.
Infrastructure for renewable energy
We invest in infrastructure for renewable energy. Mainly wind and solar projects in Europe and North America. Up to 2 percent of the fund can be invested in unlisted infrastructure for renewable energy.
Investment strategy
The Ministry of Finance decides the overall investment strategy for the fund. Material changes require approval from the Storting – the Norwegian parliament. The strategy is communicated to Norges Bank in a mandate for the operational management of the fund. The mandate sets out what we can invest in, how the results are to be measured, and various requirements for how we go about managing the fund.
Norges Bank’s Executive Board issues a strategic plan for the management of the fund, including the main strategies that Norges Bank Investment Management is to employ in pursuit of our goal of the highest possible return. We use a variety of complementary investment strategies that are tailored to the fund’s unique characteristics, such as its size and long-term investment horizon.
Security selection
These strategies aim to generate an excess return over relevant benchmarks.
Market exposure
These strategies aim to ensure cost-effective exposure to the broad equity and bond markets while also contributing to the fund’s overall relative return.
Fund allocation
These strategies aim to improve the trade-off between return and risk in the fund.
Investment insights
The fund’s investment decisions are based on research and analysis of the developments in financial markets and the global economy. We share internal research and analysis as well as content from conferences or seminars. We invite to dialogue and have a strong collaboration with academics, peers and practitioners with an aim to improving the investment strategy and our results.
Investment risk
The value of the fund may fluctuate considerably from year to year. We use a variety of measures and risk analyses to obtain the broadest possible picture of the fund's market risk.
Historic management reviews
Annual report 2022
Read more about the investments and results in the annual report on the fund.