SINCE cutbacks have become the new economic vocabulary, government ministers are for the first time in over a decade facing challenges of a very different nature.

GREENS last night demanded action to stop hundreds of millions of euro of taxpayers’ money being invested in strife- torn Zimbabwe.

THE State’s National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) has invested in six of the seven companies blacklisted on ethical grounds by the Norwegian State pension fund.

The National Pension Reserve Fund has reported a 4.5% return for the first six months of this year.

The National Pension Reserve Fund lost more than 16% of its value on the stock market last year, according to its annual report for 2002.