KUCHING: Bill on the sovereign wealth fund will be tabled at the end of this year, said Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Dr Sim, who is also the Deputy Premier, claimed that by introducing the Bill, Sarawak would achieve yet another historic milestone.
“We must always believe that even when we have access to consultants, we still need to learn as much as possible to make informed policy decisions,” he said in his Facebook post yesterday.
Dr Sim made this statement following the Friday visit to London by a delegation from the Sarawak government, which was headed by Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“The team is learning sovereign wealth funds from nations with abundant natural resources like Norway, less resource-rich countries like Singapore as well as cities with specialised money management like London.
“The UK Government Invest (UKGI) is assisting HM Treasury in managing a portfolio worth £1.165 Trillion (revenue of £24 billion) and staff from public and private sectors (secondment for 18-24 months).
“The International Forum on Sovereign Wealth Fund (IFSWF) shows the initial simple sovereign fund of savings to the recent sophisticated sovereign fund of strategies and development,” he said.
In order to conduct research before establishing Sarawak’s very own sovereign wealth fund, Abang Johari led a delegation to meet with representatives of the IFSWF and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in London last Friday.
The Premier said as part of the benchmarking process, Sarawak sought to learn and gain insights on the best practices and experience of the UK Sovereign Wealth Fund’s investment strategies, management and governance as well as its legal and legislative framework.
“Sarawak’s financial position is now quite strong so we want to generate revenue from future surplus funds for the benefit of our future generations,” he added.
