Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Funds
Through Temasek and GIC, the government of Singapore stewards its economic assets and helps achieve long-term strategic outcomes that also quietly shape global tastes and trends.
Sovereign wealth funds are state-owned investment funds tasked with stewarding and growing the state’s wealth for long-term use. The government of Singapore owns and runs two sovereign wealth funds with an estimated total of assets under management of about $1 trillion. With a net portfolio value of about $300 billion, Temasek Holdings operates like an active equity investment firm and wholly or part-owns many of Singapore’s most important companies, as well as holds shares in major foreign corporations like BlackRock.1 GIC instead operates like a passive asset management company and, though it doesn’t officially disclose figures, is estimated to manage between $700-800 billion of assets.2 The two funds contribute up to 20% of Singapore’s government budget and serve as mechanisms for implementing Singapore’s overall geopolitical and economic strategy, with notable repercussions for the global strategic landscape as well.