Published 1 hour ago • loading... • Updated 1 hour ago
Norway's $2 trillion sovereign fund proposes deep cuts to US Treasury holdings
The fund said a 50% government-bond share would preserve liquidity and support higher returns as it adds mortgage-backed and government-related debt.
Norges Bank Investment Management proposed reducing its government bond allocation from 70% to 50%, a shift that would gradually cut Treasury holdings from 34.1% to 21.9% of its portfolio.
High debt loads across developed economies make GDP-based weighting obsolete, according to Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache and CEO Nicolai Tangen, who recommend switching to market-value weighting to better manage risk.
The proposal also reduces euro area government bond holdings from 16.8% to 14.1% while increasing Japanese government bond allocations from 4.6% to 7.4%, and introduces mortgage-backed securities at roughly 13% of the index.
Economist Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC that while the reduction size is not major, "the signal that traditional holders and buyers are becoming less reliable is a very important one." 30 words, one sentence, exact quote from Statement 5, immediate attribution to El-Erian.
The Ministry of Finance has commissioned an independent expert group to assess the fund's overall strategy, with findings due by January 2027 to help determine the bond index composition.