Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd reported its lowest rolling 20-year return since 2020 and warned of “unprecedented uncertainty” as investors face “a world in flux” amid intensified structural shifts such as fragmentation of the global trading system.
The wealth fund’s annualised rolling 20-year real return for its financial year ended March 31 was 3.8%, the lowest since 2020.
“Investors today are facing a world in flux. The cyclical, structural, and foundational shifts that we have been observing have intensified,” Lim Chow Kiat, chief executive officer of GIC, says in a statement on July 25, when the fund announced financial performance for the last financial year. “These shifts are much harder to prepare for, and we need to be vigilant when navigating such unprecedented uncertainty.”
He listed shifts that include fragmentation of the global trading system, artificial intelligence and climate change.
Some 28% of GIC’s investment portfolio was in Asia, up from 26% in the year ended March 2024, and its exposure to the US increased to 44% from 39%.
By asset class, the wealth fund stepped up allocation to equities to 51% from 46% and dropped bond exposure to 26% from 32%. Allocation to real assets climbed to 23% from 22%.
GIC doesn’t publicly disclose its asset data. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute pegs the figure at around US$847 billion as of March 2024.
