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Abang Johari said the state government is looking for guardians who can act both professionally and transparently to make sure that the fund is well-protected. – Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): The Sarawak state government will form a Board of Guardians comprising eight finance and investment experts and professionals to provide professional management for the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state government is looking for guardians who can act both professionally and transparently to make sure that the fund is well-protected.
“We have to check the personality, integrity and background of our professionals to be on the board. (They are) not (only) Sarawakian and not only Malaysians.
“It (the board) is multinational and (comprises) people who have experience in investment in the capital market and as well as multiply seed capital,” he told reporters at the Fifth Malaysian Banking and Finance Summit 2023 here, today.
Additionally, Abang Johari said the establishment of the sovereign wealth fund needed to comply with the Santiago Principles in order to help maintain a stable global financial system and free flow of capital and investment.
He said in terms of managing the fund, the state government would ensure that the returns will be well calibrated by maximising the fund.
Meanwhile, in his keynote address, Abang Johari said the fund would adopt a capital maximisation model, whereby it would benchmark against Norway’s sovereign wealth fund known as the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global which has a fund size of US$1.25 trillion (US$1=RM4.56).
He said the same model was also adopted by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (with a fund size of US$70.6 billion) in the United States (US) (and) intriguingly, these countries’ sources of revenue are also from oil and gas, similar to Sarawak.
“I (have) learnt that sovereign wealth fund is a strategy for many countries to invest excess capital into markets or other investments.
“Therefore, we must build up wealth for Sarawak when our oil and gas reserves run out in the future,” he added.
Sarawak is setting up a sovereign wealth fund with an initial amount of RM8 billion to strengthen the state’s financial sustainability.
On Nov 22 last year, the Sarawak Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the Sovereign Wealth Future Fund Board Bill, 2022. – Bernama
