New Frontiers in Sovereign Wealth Fund Capitalization
In the debate over the creation of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) the discussion is often focused on either oil based (e.g. Norway, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. or non commodity based SWFs (e.g. South Korea, China, Singapore, etc. Yet we are seeing a new development in the sovereign wealth fund arena; more and more countries are seeding sovereign wealth funds by leveraging non traditional financial sources and are increasingly motivated by domestic developmental (including infrastructural development) imperatives. Interestingly, this process is taking place in a global context of rising nationalist sentiments and backlash against trade and migration. This paper outlines recent developments in SWF creation especially by countries that are neither endowed with oil wealth nor possess sizable export surpluses to create SWFs with a development mandate. While contextualizing this study in the broader SWF literature, the aim is to provide a comprehensive overview on how different funding sources could be leveraged to meet long term financial and socio development objectives. Thus, the overall objective is to map out existing work on non traditional sources of SWF growth and draw attention to hitherto unnoticed sources of funding: remittances.