Norway imposes investment ban

Norway’s vast fund for investing its oil wealth is now barred from owning shares in companies that sell arms to Myanmar, expanding limits imposed last year on direct investments in the Southeast Asia nation’s government bonds and 1,200 companies, the finance ministry announced Friday.

However, a statement said a preliminary review suggests there are currently no such companies in the fund’s portfolio, making the ban a symbolic one.


Myanmar, also called Burma, has been ruled by a military dictatorship since 1962, and last year staged a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in which at least 31 people died and hundreds were arrested.

Norway, a major exporter of oil and natural gas, sets aside surplus central government revenue in the Government Pension Fund-Global — formerly the oil fund — for foreign investment to avoid overheating the domestic economy of the Nordic nation of 4.7 million people. It is currently worth about 2 trillion kroner ($388 billion).

AP