Norway: Siltanews – News Desk
Fund not allowed to invest in makers of nuclear arms
Opposition looking to change ethical guidelines
Appears not to have enough support to overturn minority government
OSLO, May 7 (Reuters) – Opposition efforts to allow Norway’s $1.8 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, to invest in large defence companies appear to be faltering, according to lawmakers involved in the process.
The fund follows ethical rules decided by parliament that prevent it from buying stakes in the likes of Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab, Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab, BAE Systems (BAES.L), opens new tab and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab on the grounds they make components for nuclear weapons.
Two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Progress Party, have in recent months called on lawmakers to change the fund’s guidelines on that point, coming at a time when European countries are ramping up military investment.
Support for change also came from the head of the central bank, which operates the fund, who said in February Norway “must be open to the possibility that what is considered to be ethically acceptable may change as the world again becomes marked by military rearmament and growing tensions between countries”.
The Conservatives say it is no longer reasonable to exclude companies that make equipment critical to Norway and its allies’ battle power.
The fund can invest in defence companies if they are not involved in the production of nuclear weapons and is therefore invested in the likes of Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE), opens new tab or Leonardo (LDOF.MI), opens new tab. But the guidelines prevent the fund from investing in several major defence companies.
Progress, meanwhile, is presenting a private member’s bill, which argues it is hypocritical of Oslo to ban its fund from buying shares in Lockheed Martin while buying 52 F-35 fighter jets from the U.S. defence contractor at the same time.
“This is to make capital available to the defence industry, which is especially necessary now,” one of the co-authors of the bill, Hans Andreas Limi, told Reuters.
They would require support from other parties to overturn the will of the minority Labour government and allow one of the world’s largest investors to allot billions of dollars to defence companies.