RT.com
01 Apr 2023, 04:13 GMT+10
Hundreds of millions of dollars are stuck in the country due to Western sanctions, the fund's management says
Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, is still unable to divest its holdings in Russia as the custodian bank is under Western sanctions, the Norwegian Finance Ministry said on Friday.
The Oslo-based Government Pension Fund is the world's biggest owner of publicly traded companies with a portfolio of about 9,000 stocks. It has around 0.2% of its assets invested in Russia.
"The market for trading in Russian financial instruments is still subject to comprehensive sanctions and has not been normalized as of March 2023," the ministry said in a statement.
The Nordic country's authorities decided to sell Russian stocks right after the start of the military operation in Ukraine. The fund held shares in 47 Russian companies and government bonds valued at 25 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.4 billion) at the end of 2021.
However, at that time the fund's management was resisting pressure to shed Russian assets, with CEO Nicolai Tangen saying it would be "a wrapped gift to the oligarchs who buy our shares."
Since then, Western nations have imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia which now prevent the Norwegian pension fund from divesting its assets.
"The concrete and practical problem is that the custodian bank that we use is under sanctions, and can't assist us with settlement of transactions, and neither with voting on shares" in Russian companies, deputy CEO, Trond Grande said in January. The situation is "deadlocked" he noted, adding that "there is no way we can either sell or buy or vote on these shares."
Details of the fund's portfolio at the end of 2022 released in January revealed a loss of about $2.8 billion from Russian holdings, compared to their value at the end of 2021.
Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly warned that sanctions imposed on the country would backfire. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Western nations would "suffer from their own restrictions" while being "disappointed" by Russia's resilience.
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Broadcast Communications news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Broadcast Communications.
More InformationNEW DELHI, India: Indian federal police documents indicate that the country has filed a graft case against the UK's BAE ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rallied sharply on Thursday after the House of Representatives passed the controversial bill ...
SANTA CLARA, California: Nvidia Corp, the world's most valuable listed chip company, said that to meet soaring customer demand for ...
BURBANK, California: Over the US Memorial Day weekend, Disney's live-action remake of its 1989 animated classic, "The Little Mermaid," brought ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: The Nielsen company said that CBS has again claimed the title of most-watched television network ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. and global stocks tumbled Wednesday as lawmakers continued to navigate their way through Congress ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: The Nielsen company said that CBS has again claimed the title of most-watched television network ...
New Delhi [India], June 2 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and ...
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], June 2 (ANI): In a major administrative reshuffle in Rajasthan, seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 30 ...
Tom Brady insists that he is staying retired this time. "I'm certain I'm not playing again," the seven-time Super Bowl ...
New Delhi [India], June 1 (ANI): Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in the United States on Prime ...
washington - Scientists have expanded the search for technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations by monitoring a star-dense region toward the core ...