Nicolai Tangen, 55, at the headquarters of the Norwegian State Fund in Oslo
Image: Bloomberg
As head of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen manages 1.2 trillion euros. The art collector is gloomy about the future. A conversation about the global economy, the trouble with Volkswagen and the most dangerous plan of his life.
Mr Tangen, the Norwegian oil fund of which you are the head is the largest single shareholder in the world. What is currently the greatest exchange rate risk: the corona epidemic, the delivery bottlenecks or the many political conflicts?
Sebastian Balzter
Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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The biggest potential problem is inflation. I can see inflation everywhere: in freight rates, in the prices of metals and food, in construction costs, and gradually in wages as well. I think that will have far more serious consequences than is currently believed.
What do you expect?
Interest rates are lower than ever, share prices are higher than ever. Under these conditions, a high rate of inflation means that we lose money with stocks and bonds at the same time. The oil fund was established in 1996. In the 25 years since then, we’ve seen the stock market rise almost continuously. When things went downhill, it never took particularly long. This time I don’t think things will go up that quickly. Even the financial crisis of 2008 only looks like a small dent in retrospect. It will not go on like this, I am convinced of that. The future will be less attractive to us than the past.