ISIF, which was established by the government in 2014, had $19 billion (€17.2 billion) in assets under management at the end of 2023, according to industry expert Global SWF’s annual report.
As of the end of 2022, it had $16 billion in assets under management, ranking it 52nd among the top 100 sovereign wealth funds.
However, according to the latest rankings, ISIF’s asset base has been overtaken by much larger funds, including Norway’s top fund, Norges Bank Investment Management Fund, which has $1.38 trillion under management.
In second place is China’s CIC with $1.24 trillion.
A Global SWF report released yesterday said: “In Europe, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are considering new savings vehicles to support their future budget surpluses.”
It added: “The Irish economy is benefiting from an influx of global tech and pharmaceutical companies seeking lower tax rates, with funding expected to reach the Future Ireland Fund which could reach $106 billion by 2035. “It has been done,” he added.
Plans for the Future Ireland Fund were announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Michael McGrath on Budget Day last October.
The fund will benefit from €4.1 billion in seed funding this year following the dissolution of the National Reserve Fund.
The government will invest 0.8% of GDP into this new fund every year from 2024 to 2035. This will amount to him approximately 4.3 billion euros in 2024.
The government is creating the new fund in anticipation of increasing pressure on public finances in the coming decades. These include the costs of population aging, climate neutrality, and the digitalization of the economy.
The Government says the creation of the Future Ireland Fund will help alleviate some of these costs. There will be triggers that allow the finance minister to reduce part or all of contributions to the fund in order to deal with economic conditions, such as a decline in corporate tax revenues or economic downturn.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) accounted for about a quarter of the approximately $124 billion spent by sovereign wealth funds around the world last year, according to a Global SWF report.
The company’s acquisitions include the $3.6 billion acquisition of Pembroke, the Dublin-based Standard Chartered aircraft leasing business, which is registered in Ireland and led by Irish executives from a PIF-backed lender. Acquired through Abilis.