Sarawak To Earmark Rm600mil A Year For Sovereign Wealth Fund

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Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg (in blue) with leaders of the Sarawak United People’s Party at their delegates conference in Kuching today. (Ukas pic)PETALING JAYA: Sarawak will set aside between RM400 million and RM600 million every year for its sovereign wealth fund, says the state’s premier Abang Johari Openg

“Our sovereign wealth fund will be similar to Norway’s. It cannot be touched by any state government after that for 20 years. They cannot withdraw the money,” he said in Kuching today.
“And we have to contribute between RM400 million and RM600 million per year to our sovereign fund,” he said, according to Dayak Daily.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the world’s largest, with assets amounting to 1.47 trillion euros (RM6.86 trillion). It owns shares in nearly 8,800 companies, including major names such as Shell, Nestlé, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Nvidia, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
The fund also holds 214 Malaysian stocks worth US$2.32 billion (RM10.26 billion) in its portfolio.
Abang Johari said the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Future Fund would be key to managing the state’s assets in a prudent and professional manner. The state had already set aside RM8 billion in seed capital for the fund, to be invested in “growth-oriented portfolios”.
Abang Johari said the fund will report directly to the Sarawak assembly rather than the state government, to ensure transparency in its management.
“We have structured our economy not only for the present but also for the future. Our only duty is to maintain our stability,” the premier said when speaking at the delegates conference of the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party.
New structure for govt assets
Abang Johari said he will also unveil a new asset management framework developed with partners in the private sector to ensure Sarawak’s resources were managed independently, transparently and sustainably.
In October, Abang Johari said Sarawak was considering establishing a consolidated entity to manage its assets and serve as its investment arm.
Currently, the state’s assets are held by various statutory bodies and state GLCs, such as the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation, Sarawak Energy Bhd, and Petroleum Sarawak Bhd.
Under Abang Johari’s proposal, all these assets would be consolidated under one entity, which would then be run like a business organisation, similar to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and the United Arab Emirates’s Mubadala Investment Company, among others. - FMT

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