OSLO— Global inflation is becoming more entrenched and the risk is that it could be harder to reduce it, the head of Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Norwegian fund is the world’s largest single stock market investor, owning 1.5% of all globally listed shares with stakes in some 9,200 companies.
“We still think that there is a risk that it could be more difficult to get down because it is becoming more entrenched,” Nicolai Tangen said on the sidelines of a parliamentary hearing.
“We see core inflation numbers are pretty high. We are seeing no let-up in the food sector, for instance, and we are seeing some higher wage demands, across Europe.”
China’s economy grew 4.5% year-on-year for the first quarter, eclipsing the expectations of most economists, data released on Tuesday showed.
“Chinese growth numbers were higher than expected. We have said for a very long time if the Chinese growth is really strong it will also help underpin the inflation,” Tangen said.
—Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Terje Solsvik
