Malaysia’s Sarawak state is in talks with Norway to learn about setting up a sovereign wealth fund, says Johari Openg, premier of the resource-rich state.
He points to the US$1.3 trillion Government Pension Fund of Norway, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, as being “widely recognised with the highest standards of governance since its inception in 1996”.
“It is a standard needed by Sarawak to be used as a benchmark,” he says in a statement recently. He did not provide a time frame to set up the Sarawak fund.
According to Johari, Sarawak and Norway share many similarities, including large and sparsely populated territories that are rich in natural resources such as oil and gas and hydro power.
“We also share the same desire to move towards sustainable development and preserve the world for future generations. Since Sarawak and Norway have many similarities, Sarawak is interested in learning from Norway,” he says.
Malaysia has two sovereign wealth funds, both at the federal level. One, Khazanah Nasional, was set up nearly three decades ago and had 106 billion ringgit ($24.10 billion) of assets under management as of end-2021.
The other fund is the scandal-ridden 1 Malaysia Development or 1MDB, which was declared insolvent in 2018. The fund is under global scrutiny for multi-billion dollar losses from money laundering.