By Yee Mei
KUCHING, Nov 22: The Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Future Fund Board Bill, 2022 was passed in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
According to Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, the establishment of the sovereign wealth fund will meet the purposes of converting non-renewable assets to financial assets, investing for the future through forced savings, and securing the continued growth of financial reserves through diversified investments.
He said the State had enjoyed commodity-based revenue, particularly from oil and gas, over the years. However, it is depletable, and if not managed and invested wisely, it would deprive future generations of the same economic benefits.
“Hence, it is critical to converting these non-renewable assets into financial assets so as to preserve and grow the State’s current wealth,” he said when tabling the Bill during the DUN sitting.
He said the sovereign wealth fund would sustain the financial fiscal position of the State via revenue diversification and the creation of reserves replacing oil and gas revenue in years to come.
“With this in mind, the setting up of a sovereign wealth fund by adopting a capital maximisation model, with benchmarking against Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, i.e., the Norway Oil Fund known as Norway Government Pension Fund Global (with a fund size of USD1.25 trillion), is the strategy going forward.
“The same model is also adopted by US Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (with a fund size of USD70.6 billion). Incidentally, these jurisdictions also have their prime sources of revenue from oil and gas, just like Sarawak,” he said. — DayakDaily
