Toronto — Canada is developing a government-owned investment fund, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Monday.
Carney Said the fund will invest in major Canadian industrial projects in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and technology. It will start with 25 billion Canadian dollars ($18 billion).
The Prime Minister said the federal government will partner with private investors to inject the funds. The money will help fund projects Carney’s government is focusing on building as Canada looks to diversify away from the United States.
US President Donald Trump has been threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty. TariffCan be most aggressive by claiming Canada “The 51st State.”
Carney is a two-time former central banker in England and Canada, as well as chairman of the board of directors of Bloomberg.
“We take lessons from other jurisdictions that had the foresight to launch sovereign wealth funds several decades ago,” Carney said, adding that in some cases they started with a domestic focus and then scaled up to a domestic focus.
Sovereign wealth funds invest in assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate. These are typically funded from a country’s budgetary surplus, which Canada does not currently have. The announcement comes a day before the Carney government announces its spring economic update.
According to The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, a London-based organization made up of about 50 of these institutions, there are more than 90 sovereign wealth funds around the world that manage more than $8 trillion in assets.
trump ordered creation Of the US sovereign wealth fund last year. In the US, more than 20 sovereign wealth funds exist at the state level, according to an analysis by the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank.
