HIGHLIGHTS: Jens Stoltenberg

Hi, everybody. Tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday. For the long version, tune in on Wednesdays. Hi, everyone. I'm Nik Bartangen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. And today, I'm really excited because I'm here with a guest, who has defined the last thirty years of Norway's place in the world. So warm welcome to Jens Stoltenberg. Thank you so much for having me. Now, you created the fiscal rule, that turned Norway's oil money into the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. You've been prime minister twice. You led NATO for ten years, and now you are back as finance minister running the fund you helped create. So very, very interesting. It is a fascinating history, and, of course, there have been many decisions making this fund possible. But, actually, when I was, when I became finance minister thirty years ago in 1996, that was the year we made the first installment into the fund. And since then, I've followed the fund very closely. There's been some pretty big calls, done here. So one, to save the revenues, invest in in equities, and then, of course, you also have the the spending rule. So what do you think are the most important ones? And were they obvious at the time? No. All of them were, politically controversial. And I think what we have learned in Norway is that when you when you if you want to make or to create a sovereign wealth fund, you have to make three important political decisions. One is how much to save. The second is how much to use, so how much to put in and then how much to take out of the fund. And then the third decision is where to invest. And to the first question, how much to save, by law we decided that all the oil and gas revenues are saved. Every cent, every dollar earned is saved into the Fund. That's the first decision how much to pay to put in. The second important political decision is about how much to take out. And then we created the golden fiscal rule back in 2001, and that says that the only thing we can withdraw from the fund is the expected financial real return, meaning that that we have estimated that to be 3%. So Do you think you would have done that differently if you knew how big the fund would become? No. I don't think so. I I Do you think there, for instance, would have been a clause that the fund cannot account for more than I don't know. Now it's 25% of the state, but you do think, for instance, you would have put in one maxed at 10%? No. I don't think so. But but, of course, I I was prime Prime Minister when we decided that rule, so maybe I'm very biased. It has served Norway well for now twenty six years, the …