Norway petrol fund grows 4.9%

Norway’s Petroleum Fund, set up to pay future health and pension expenses in Europe’s second-richest country, grew 4.9% in the third quarter as the government added money from selling oil and bond investments rose in value.

The assets rose to €120.5 billion, or more than half the size of the country’s economy, at the end of September from €115bn on June 30, according to a statement in Oslo yesterday.

Norway is the world’s third-largest oil exporter and first put money into the fund in 1996.