‘There is nothing unique about the performance of Trinidad and Tobago’s Heritage and Stabilisation Fund in 2022,’ – Finance Minister Colm Imbert
SINCE the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government came into office in 2015, the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) has generated TT$12 billion.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert said so on Monday adding that as at June 9, the Net Asset Value of the country’s sovereign wealth fund was US $5.466 billion equivalent to just over TT$37 billion.
This represented an increase in Net Asset Value from US $754 million or just over TT$5 billion in the actual value of the fund over the past nine months, since September 2022, he said.
He was responding to a Sunday Express lead story that stated the HSF had a US$913.5 million loss in 2022, a sharp contrast to the US$624m profit in 2021.
Imbert, speaking at a press conference hosted by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Monday, said for the first time since 2007, surplus funds were used to make a deposit to the HSF in December 2022.
He said, “The net asset value of the HSF has increased by US$327 million over TT $2 billion in the last six months between January 2023 and June 2023 and this is without any deposits into the fund from the Government during that period.”
Imbert said the loss was not unique to Trinidad and Tobago as 2022, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and other global factors, negatively impacted major world sovereign wealth funds including China and Norway.
“It is public knowledge that 2022 was an extremely challenging year for market players and sovereign wealth funds with volatile geopolitics, high inflation, rising interest rates, rising interest rates especially for the United States, very important for anybody who wants to do a proper analysis for global equity markets,” he said.
Imbert added, “It was the first year in history that the size of the global equity market shrunk, there were heavy falls in stock and bond markets and that cut the combined value of the world’s sovereign wealth funds for the first time ever.”
“There is nothing unique about the performance of Trinidad and Tobago’s HSF in 2022,” he said.
Since the last annual report for the period that ended on September 30, 2022 which was also laid in Parliament by Imbert on February 3, 2023, the Fund has moved in a positive trajectory.
Imbert said, “Our fund has recovered strongly to the tune of over $700 US million since the close of the last fiscal year in September of last year.”
He said between September 2022 and December 2022, the HSF increased its value to US $400 million.
Imbert said, “By June 2023, this month, the fund has increased its value by 16% since that report in September 2022.”
Withdrawals from the HSF since the PNM came into office totalled almost US $1.9 billion he stated which was used to fund the national budget in difficult periods including through the Covid-19 pandemic.
And the Fund’s Net Asset Value was US$5.5 billion, when the previous administration exited office, the same as it was today, Imbert noted.
“It means that this fund has generated $12 billion Trinidad dollars in comprehensive income since we assumed office in 2015,” he said.
The report was published in its entirety on the Ministry of Finance website on June 7.
