Singapore’s US$453.2 billion sovereign wealth fund GIC expects greater volatility in the global market, which will add pressure on returns amid the pandemic and ongoing US-China tensions.

“GIC had become increasingly concerned with high valuations, weakening economic cycle fundamentals, limited room for policy flexibility and geopolitical tensions, and had positioned the portfolio defensively,” said Lim Chow Kiat, CEO of GIC, in a statement. “In the unexpected event of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defensive stance helped the portfolio withstand some of the more extreme market movements.”

Announced 28 July 2020, GIC saw its investment portfolio achieve an annualised US-dollar nominal rate of return of 4.6 percent over the 20-year period that ended 31 March 2020. After accounting for global inflation, GIC’s annualised real rate of return stood at 2.7 percent over the same period. This means that over the past 20 years, from April 2000 to March 2020, GIC has ach