RIYADH: The head of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund has warned that rising inflation will hit investors’ returns for years.
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway’s $1.3 trillion oil fund, believes that increased prices across a number of sectors are here to stay, even when the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic fades.
His comments come as consumer inflation prices in large industrial economies are running at their highest level for over 20 years, with the US seeing price growth hit 7 percent in December as opposed to the 0.1 percent experienced in May 2020.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Tangen said: “We will have much tougher times ahead . . . with extremely low interest rates and a very high stock market, and with increasing — and in some places, accelerating — inflation, we could see a long period of time with low returns.”
Global investment management firm, AQR Capital Management projected that a typical portfolio of 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds will generate returns of just 2 percent annually over the next few years as opposed to the average 5 percent received over the past 10 years or so.
That said, despite recording a 14.5 percent increase in terms of returns last year, the oil fund might hit low returns soon.
