An IMGlobalWealth.news Report

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has described his country’s vast sovereign wealth fund as an intergenerational asset designed to last indefinitely, in remarks made during a Council on Foreign Relations discussion in New York last week and broadcast on CNN on Sunday.

Støre made the comments on September 21 during a conversation with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, moderated by CNN host Fareed Zakaria. Highlights of the discussion were subsequently aired on Fareed Zakaria GPS on September 27.

“The fund returned 9.4% during the first half of the year, generating NOK 1.75 trillion in investment returns”

“We live in a generation where we are transferring value from energy into a fund that will fund pensions in the future,” Støre said.

“When oil prices go up and down, nothing goes into my budget, it goes into this fund,” he added. “It’s meant to be there for future generations. It basically is meant to be a fund there forever.”

The Government Pension Fund Global, built largely from Norway’s petroleum revenues, is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. Its value stood at NOK 22.68 trillion at the end of June 2026.

Norway’s fiscal framework is designed to prevent petroleum wealth from being consumed by the current generation. Under its fiscal rule, withdrawals over time should broadly correspond to the fund’s expected long-term real return, currently estimated at around 3%.

Støre characterised the model as spending only part of the returns rather than depleting the underlying wealth.

For 2026, Norway’s revised budget estimates the use of fund revenues at NOK 579 billion, equivalent to 2.7% of the fund’s value at the beginning of the year.

The model has effectively converted finite North Sea oil and gas revenues into a globally diversified pool of financial assets intended to benefit both current and future generations.