Five of the world’s most active and largest sovereign wealth funds are to be found in the Gulf Region: the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Mubadala and ADQ. These funds not only...

Saudi-Arabien tritt entschlossen und finanzstark in den geopolitischen Wettbewerb um mineralische Rohstoffe ein. Im Rahmen der Vision 2030 sollen die lokale Weiterverarbeitung und die industrielle Wertschöpfung gestärkt werden. Derzeit verschafft sich Saudi-Arabien mineralische Rohstoffe durch...

This report describes the ESG integration practices at GPF as a practical example of how a pension fund can integrate ESG considerations into its investment practices and processes. The report focuses on the incorporation of ESG issues into our investment analysis and decision-making process....

Many countries that have large surplus financial resources but contend with limited land and water resources use large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in foreign countries to ensure national food security and earn long-term returns on their investments. LSLAs can provide positive direct and...

While market mechanisms and private initiatives can deliver much for development, public action is also necessary to: maximize the economic benefits of the extractive industries; manage potentially large capital and revenues flows; minimize adverse environmental and social impacts; and steer the...

Saudi-Arabien tritt entschlossen und finanzstark in den geopolitischen Wettbewerb um mineralische Rohstoffe ein. Im Rahmen der Vision 2030 sollen die lokale Weiterverarbeitung und die industrielle Wertschöpfung gestärkt werden. Derzeit verschafft sich Saudi-Arabien mineralische Rohstoffe durch...

This paper empirically investigates the economic correlates of the size of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF). We exploit a panel of 28 SWFs for the period 2008-2018. Findings highlight that: (i) GDP is positively associated with the size of the SWF so confirming that richer countries have larger...

This paper investigates the dependence of the investment behaviour of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance of their underlying investments in public equity holdings. We deploy a control variable, which monitors the Corporate Social...

The heightened volatility of commodity prices in recent years, reflecting the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, begs the longstanding question of the optimal fiscal policy response to commodity price shocks. Fiscal performance in most commodity-exporting countries is typically...

The Selected Issues paper focuses on climate change in Kiribati. This note summarizes the main ways in which climate change may negatively affect the economy of Kiribati. It then shows how Kiribati may cope with these negative effects by implementing adaptation projects, as well as by...

The heightened volatility of commodity prices in recent years, reflecting the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, begs the longstanding question of the optimal fiscal policy response to commodity price shocks. Fiscal performance in most commodity-exporting countries is typically...

The past two decades have seen a rapid rise in large-scale, state-led transnational investment from countries as different as China, Norway and Russia. By bundling economic resources, these countries have entered global markets through massive state-led investments. This transformation of states...

This paper examines the performance of 538 sovereign wealth fund (SWF) investments into venture capital, private equity, and real asset funds ("alternative asset funds") from 52 countries around the world over the years 1995-2020. The data indicate SWFs are significantly slower to fully...

We examine how sovereign wealth fund (SWF) investments affect target firms’ cost of debt. Using a large sample across 39 countries from 2004 to 2019, and applying a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach, we find that the loan spread of target firms decreases after equity investment by SWFs....

On the management of revenues derived from petroleum resources (casually referred to as ‘oil money’), Nigeria and Norway present two extreme paradigms of prudence. On one of the extreme sides, the debate in Norway revolves around whether the state has saved and is saving too much in...