Geopolitics on top of wealth funds’ worry list

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 29, 2018, the ship Hammersmith Bridge which has just arrived from Shanghai in China, unloads Chinese shipping containers at the Port of Long Beach, in Los Angeles County. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)

LONDON: Geopolitical rivalries, including brewing trade battles between the United States and China, now top inflation as the biggest worry for sovereign wealth funds and central banks managing some US$22 trillion in assets, an Invesco survey shows.

The ratcheting up of conflict – from Russia’s war in Ukraine to trade restrictions – has loomed over global investors for several years, but with the inflation tide ebbing, and as nearly half the world’s population votes on new leaders, the tensions are now centre stage.