Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global returned 6.9% in 2016, with strong equities performance in the second half of the year, said its latest annual report.

The sovereign wealth fund’s return was equivalent to 447 billion Norwegian kroner ($51.8 billion), and compared with a 2.7%, or 344 billion kroner return in 2015. Assets increased by 0.5% over the year ended Dec. 31, to 7.51 trillion kroner. The fund’s equities allocation increased over the year to 62.5%, from 61.2%. These investments returned 8.7% in 2016, compared with 3.8% in 2015.

Fixed-income, to which the fund has a 34.3% allocation, returned 4.3%. In 2015 the fund had a 35.7% allocation to fixed-income, which returned 0.3%. Real estate returned 0.8% in 2016, and the fund had a 3.2% allocation to the asset class. In 2015 the allocation was 3.1%, with the exposure gaining 10%.

Currency effects detracted from the fund’s value in 2016, by 306 billion kroner. In 2015, currency effects added 668 billion kroner.

The fund also recorded its first withdrawal of capital by the Norwegian government in 2016, at 101 billion kroner. In 2015, the fund recorded a capital inflow of 46 billion kroner.

‘The fund returned 6.9% after a year of political events and uncertainty,’ said Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, in the annual report. ‘All of the fund’s asset classes generated positive returns, but it was the strong equity return in the second half of the year that drove the fund’s results.’ NBIM manages the assets of the fund.