Norway urged the “crazy” ban to invest in defense companies

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Two major opposition parties said that Norway should decrease a ban that prevents the sovereign wealth fund, which is the largest investment in defense companies such as Boeing, Wilgbus, Lukheed Martin and Haniole.

Oil Fund of 1.8 Triton in Norway He was prevented from holding shares in most defense companies since the early first decade of the twentieth century when Parliament in the country imposed moral rules that prevented it from owning groups that make parts of nuclear or cluster weapons.

Speaking to financial times before the parliamentary elections later this year, the conservative right parties and progress in the center said they wanted to reversed this situation because of the current security situation and Norway benefiting from the US -led nuclear umbrella.

Erna Solberg, the former prime minister and the current leader of the conservatives, said that it is “paradoxes” that Norway has rules that exclude companies that make nuclear weapons.

“We have restrictions today that the oil fund cannot invest in the defense industry. We will take it away. It is completely crazy,” she said.

Representative Progress Hans Andreas Limi has submitted a draft law for private members to remove nuclear weapons ban, which is currently imposing on the fund to exclude companies including Northop Grumman, Bae Systems, General Dynamics and Safran. Limi has not been reported before.

He said in an interview: “He is a hypocrite. We are a member of NATO, we are strongly dependent on the security that the United States can offer us. We buy equipment from the same companies but we cannot invest in them.”

The position of the parties comes at a time when investors around the world reassess them Precedent Defense companies have a widespread invasion of Russia to Ukraine in 2022, Europe in particular forced a significant increase in its military spending.

Actions Norwegian Oil Fund On average, it has 1.5 percent of each included global stock and 2.5 percent of each one in Europe – especially important and other shareholders can be followed widely. “It will give a signal to other investors,” said Limi.

The fund is subject to certain exceptions to products from the Norwegian parliament, including tobacco, coal and spare parts for nuclear and dilemma. The last exclusion prevented him from possessing major defense companies such as Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin since 2005-2006.

There are increasing pressure on the Norway government and new Finance Minister Jeans Stoltenberg, former NATO president, to change this.

Ida Wolden Bash, the governor of the Norwegian Central Bank, which includes the Oil Fund, previously said that the country “must be open to the possibility of changing what is considered morally acceptable.”

“You can see that he is the hypocrite of relying on the nuclear umbrella in NATO and F-35 jets and you will not be able to invest in the companies you make,” said one of the senior Norwegian officials.

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance refused to comment, saying it had received a similar question from Parliament and would answer it first.

Conservatives and parties to progress for a long time were expected to win the parliamentary elections in September and form the next government. But this has been thrown through the popularity of Stalltenberg – a former Norwegian Prime Minister – for local policy. The right and left blocs are now level.

Limi said the defensive investments would be “very profitable” for the fund.