SUPP nod to feasibility study on state sovereign wealth fund

0

Datuk Sebastian Ting

KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) fully supports the state government in undertaking a feasibility study on establishing a sovereign wealth fund for the state, said its secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting.

Ting, who is also the Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said the party also welcomed the announcement that the state government would set aside an allocation to ensure all Sarawakians could have access to Covid-19 vaccine once available.

“Free Covid-19 vaccines for all Sarawakians and the establishment of Sarawak sovereign wealth fund were two of the six resolutions proposed by SUPP to the Chief Minister when he attended our party convention on Oct 18,” said Ting in a statement.

He said the party believed the establishment of the state’s own sovereign wealth fund is crucial to ensure the future generations will continue to benefit from the oil and gas revenues, even after the depletion of oil and gas resources.

Ting also said the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, had mentioned the fund could also act as a buffer in times of financial crisis so that the state is better prepared to face any external uncertainties, like what Covid-19 pandemic had done to the global economy.

“I had spoken extensively about the establishment of Sarawak sovereign fund using the surplus revenues from our oil and gas sectors in the State Legislative Assembly during the debate on Oil Mining (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 and the debate on Yang di-Pertua Negeri’s opening speech back in July 2018.”

Back then, Ting said his idea was for the state to set up a sovereign wealth fund similar to the one in Norway, also known as the Oil Fund.

“They first discovered oil in the North Sea in 1969 but it was until 1990 that the Norwegian government established the sovereign fund to invest the surplus revenues of the Norwegian petroleum sector.”

He said the Norwegian sovereign fund had invested in over 9,000 companies worldwide, including the likes of Apple, Nestle, Microsoft and Samsung.

“The investments are wide-spread across most markets, countries and currencies to achieve broad exposure to global growth and ensure good risk diversification. It is true to say that one cannot ‘put all our eggs in one basket’,” he said, adding the fund owns 1.5 per cent of all of the word’s listed companies on average.

He said the Norwegian fund, which is the world’s largest, grew to a staggering US$1.1 trillion this year in a matter of 30 years since it was set up and the return on investment for last year alone amounted to US$180 billion.

“As such, with a population of 5.3 million people, each Norwegian benefited by almost US$34,000 based on last year’s return on investment and the overall value of the fund is now equivalent to about US$207,500 for every Norwegian,” said Ting, pointing out each Norwegian would be a millionaire if the value is converted into ringgit.

In Sarawak, Ting said the state has about 11 billion barrels equivalent of oil reserve and about 56.4 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas reserve for a population of just around 2.8 million people.

He said the Bintulu liquefied natural gas complex is one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production centres in the world.

“We can have a sovereign wealth fund like Norway’s to safeguard the wellbeing of our people and build strong financial wealth for our future generations. We hope 30 years from now, all our children and their children will be millionaires,” he said.

 

sam chua