August 7th, 2009 Posted in SWF
In a recent blog post at the Council on Foreign Relations, economist Brad Sester and a counterpart at Roubini Global Economics made their best estimate of the size of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). The financial crisis of 2008 put a dent in Gulf funds, but collectively they are still sizable, exceeding $700 billion (easily $1 trillion-plus when including Saudi Arabia’s conservatively managed reserves), and growing, albeit slower — ultimately contingent on the price of crude and domestic financing needs. See the table below (accessible by clicking the link at the end of the post to continue reading) and take note of the first two listings, both of the UAE and the total figure for the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), as well as the SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency), although again the latter is said to be predominately invested in traditional reserves as opposed to riskier assets. Finally, see also a post from last summer by TradeFlow21’s Steven Towns, which briefly explains the importance of SWFs and takes a look at top funds’ assets per capita.
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Estimated Foreign Assets of Major Sovereign Wealth Funds
|
|
Dec-07
|
Jun-08
|
Dec-08
|
Jun-09
|
|
ADIA/ADIC
|
453
|
476
|
338
|
359
|
|
Mubadala, other UAE
|
30
|
40
|
45
|
50
|
|
Kuwait
|
259
|
286
|
225
|
230
|
|
Qatar
|
65
|
82
|
60
|
63
|
|
Total GCC
|
807
|
883
|
668
|
702
|
|
Norway
|
371
|
391
|
323
|
367
|
|
Kazakhstan
|
21
|
26
|
27
|
23
|
|
Libya
|
40
|
45
|
50
|
52
|
|
Chile
|
14
|
19
|
20
|
17
|
|
Total Oil and Commodity Funds
|
1253
|
1364
|
1089
|
1160
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China
|
90
|
90
|
90
|
100
|
|
GIC
|
245
|
242
|
166
|
179
|
|
Temasek
|
75
|
85
|
55
|
65
|
|
KIC
|
18
|
25
|
25
|
28
|
|
Total Asia
|
428
|
442
|
336
|
372
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Major Sovereign Funds
|
1682
|
1806
|
1425
|
1533
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reserve-like Funds
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAMA non-reserve + pensions
|
335
|
414
|
475
|
423
|
|
Russian Reserve Fund
|
157
|
130
|
137
|
95
|
|
Russian Wealth Fund
|
|
33
|
88
|
90
|
|
Total Reserve-like Funds
|
492
|
577
|
700
|
608
|
|
|
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