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Global Public Investors – central banks, sovereign funds and public pension funds with investable assets of $33.8tn or 45% of world GDP – are a worldwide force in politics as well as economics. Their performance, behaviour and asset allocation moves have widespread international repercussions. The launch of the 2017 research took place in London on 14 June.
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Promoting investments that combat climate change through ‘green’ technologies and enhanced economic sustainability is increasingly important for public and private sector asset managers. Higher real returns from such investments can mitigate the effect of low and negative interest rates.
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Lower commodity and energy prices, tighter financing conditions and protectionism in world trade have spelled bad news for emerging market economies. But the tide may be turning as world growth improves and markets react to better management in key countries.
OMFIF Conversation
Britain’s exit from the European Union, under procedures launched by the 29 March delivery of the Article 50 withdrawal letter, marks a turning point for the UK and the continent – a drawn-out process affecting the Old Continent’s internal and external cohesion and sending reverberations throughout the world.
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The US under Donald Trump will have a decisive effect on a possible new world order in which nation states move to the forefront and international co-operation becomes less important. China’s influence, too, will be of paramount importance. These themes dominate the global agenda for growth and security.
Read moreThe response to the 2008 financial crisis may have been inevitable, but it was mistaken, writes Brian Reading. 'Bail-outs' over the last decade have transferred resources from the 'have-nots' to the 'haves'. The overall result has exacerbated inequality and social divisions, and depressed economic growth.
China's 13th five-year plan includes policies for a unified, national pension system. These are intended to consolidate dozens of funds run by local governments. But regional resistance and central agencies' concerns need to be overcome. Much will depend on how much political capital Beijing is willing to expend.
Critics are quick to cite how most economists failed to foresee the source or severity of the 2008 financial crisis. But recent normalisation of the world economy, which is returning to sustainable equilibrium, makes it easier to argue that economics as a science has benefited policy-makers, writes Miroslav Singer.
China's bonds-to-equity foreign investment redeployment is part of strategic efforts to gain international leverage and value, as Beijing seeks to emulate the successes of the US and other Anglo-Saxon countries in borrowing abroad at low rates of interest and investing outside the country for much higher returns.
Theresa May, deprived of a majority on the 8 June, cannot master her struggle at home and with the EU unaided. The British should form some kind of national unity government, writes Joergen Oerstroem Moeller. It should be possible – as Denmark did 25 years ago – to establish a compromise between the key parties.
China's economy has been accelerating – defying expectations that had been damped by worries of a 'hard landing' and geopolitical uncertainty. Expansionary government policy has helped the growth picture. The economy is taking in its stride higher US interest rates, confirmed by Fed tightening on 14 June.
Emmanuel Macron yesterday won an overwhelming majority in the French National Assembly. He has ‘uberised’ the political system, seeing off hundreds of established politicians. But his willingness to promote progress poses challenges to fundamental aspects of French culture, writes Jean-Jacques Barbéris.
Helmut Kohl, the former German chancellor who died on Friday aged 87, was inextricably bound up with three great monetary transformations. He did much else besides, writes David Marsh. Most importantly, he presided over the expensive but bloodless merging of East and West Germany in 1990.
An OMFIF-CCLS meeting on legal/policy perspectives after the UK exits the EU.
Fri 23 Jun 2017
POLICY | London
An OMFIF City Lecture with James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed.
Thu 29 Jun 2017
CITY LECTURES AND LAUNCHES | One Moorgate Place, London, EC2R 6EA
A Breakfast discussion with Mario Marcel, governor of the Banco Central de Chile
Fri 30 Jun 2017
DISCUSSIONS | London
A briefing with Mojmír Hampl, vice governor of the Czech National Bank
Tue 11 Jul 2017
BRIEFINGS | London
OMFIF hosts a Global Public Investor symposium on best practice in green finance
Thu 13 Jul 2017
INVESTMENT | Frankfurt
A meeting with IMI-OMFIF in Beijing on RMB Internationalisation
Sat 15 Jul 2017
POLICY | Beijing
OMFIF launches the fourth annual Global Public Investor report devoted to public sector asset ownership and management across a range of official institutions around the world. Panelists included representatives from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Bank of Latvia and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.
Two years ago some commentators predicted that the price of gold could fall below $1,000 an ounce and that the market was heading for a downward spiral. Today the precious metal costs around $1,250 an ounce, and its price has been on an upward trend since the start of the year.
In 2013 oil export revenues exceeded $1.2tn for GCC economies. The IMF projects these revenues will fall to $720bn by the end of 2017. Since oil revenues make up on average more than 45% of tax revenues, the resulting budget deficits in GCC countries are unlikely to recover in the near term.
The Investment Clock is in the 'overheat' phase of the business cycle after the strongest surge in global growth and inflation since the 2008 financial crisis. Stock markets often move sideways over the summer and volatility tends to rise. Negative surprises could come from doubts about Trump's ability to implement planned stimulus measures.
After a long period of deflation, Sweden's inflation rate seems to be heading towards the Riksbank's target of 2%. However, having reached 1.8% in February, the consumer price index slipped to 1.3% the following month.
This month’s advisers network poll deals with the outcome of the French parliamentary election. Members of the network were asked: ‘Will Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! (REM) party secure an absolute majority, a majority relying on ad-hoc coalitions with smaller groupings, cohabitation or other outcomes in June’s parliamentary elections?’
