***Getting lots of questions on the..........>

NORWAY: ***Getting lots of questions on the potential change in portfolio

strategy for the mammoth Norwegian Petroleum fund. One is how quickly this might

happen.

- Looking for historical example, there is a similar letter that went from

Norges Bank to the Finmin on 1 Dec 2006 that recommended increasing the equity

weight to 75% (from 62.5%). This followed a recommendation by the Mork

Commission (a government sponsored commission) in October 2016 that suggested a

70% allocation. By mid-Feb 2017, an increase in equity benchmark was approved

although only to 70%. The fund is on its way and at end-June, there was 65% in

equities.

- Tidying up the fixed income portfolio and cutting corporate bond holdings

within benchmarks is partially a response to changing market correlations and

upping the size of the equity portfolio. A decision to make such changes might

not be considered as contentious as a decision to increase the equity

percentage.