The recent financial crisis has illustrated the extent to which some countries conceive of their SWFs as ‘insurers of last resort’. Maldives President Nasheed has taken this to a new level.
In discussing his country’s future challenges from climate change, Mr. Nasheed acknowledged that contingency plans are now in place should the Maldives be completely submerged. A key part of this contingency plan apparently depends on the creation of a new SWF (sourced from tourism revenues) that will go out and buy property / land in areas with similar cultures, such as India or Sri Lanka, that could become a new home for the 300,000 islanders.
If I understand this right, Nasheed views a SWF as a way of sustaining some notion of the Maldives even if the Islands themselves disappear–SWF as a life insurance policy. Fascinating.
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