The Fund’s international investments (International Portfolio) include bank call accounts, term deposits, listed equities, unlisted equities and properties. The total International Portfolio holding as at 31 December 2015 was K785.0 which represented 16.0% of the Fund.

The Fund’s strategy for the International Portfolio in 2015 has moved to a passive approach. The Fund has transitioned its focus, from an individual stock selection approach to a broader market index approach.

The International Portfolio is structured to allow the Fund flexibility and convenient access to investments, which will benefit from economic growth outside of PNG’s limited pool of available investments.

In 2015, the Bank of PNG (BPNG) imposed a regulatory band on foreign currency held with trading within a 75 basis point range. The PGK exchange rate relatively high level when the band was initiated in the previous year moved towards a now is around the pre band rate levels.

Table 5: International Listed Equities as at 31 December 2015

The International Portfolio also includes several alternative investments, selected and managed by Whitehelm Capital (previously Access Capital Advisors). This is an Australia based investment manager, specialising in alternative investments. Independent valuer’s conduct annual valuations of the investments, which are also subject to Whitehelm Capital’s internal assessment process.

As with many alternative investments, the value of the Whitehelm Capital portfolio was significantly affected by the global financial crisis and difficult trading conditions over the last few years.

Table 6: Whitehelm Capital (Access Capital Advisors) Investments as at 31 December 2015