Oslo - Saba:
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said it has sold all its shares in the Israeli retail and energy company Paz, which owns and operates the infrastructure for supplying fuel to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
This is the second such move after the fund's Ethics Council adopted last August a stricter interpretation of ethical standards for companies that support Israeli operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The fund previously divested from Israeli telecom company Bezeq last September.
The value of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has jumped to a record 20 trillion kroner ($1.8 trillion), doubling in just five years thanks to oil and gas revenues and rising stock markets.
Established in 1996 as a savings vehicle for times of crisis, the fund owns about 1.5% of all listed stocks globally. Its size has grown to nearly four times Norway's annual GDP, far exceeding original projections.
The fund's value is comparable to the annual GDP of Australia, a country with a population five times that of Norway.
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