Heritage Fund reaches all-time high value of $22.1B

Pumpjacks draw out oil and gas from well heads near Calgary, Alta., Friday, April 28, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

Alberta's Heritage Savings Trust Fund is the largest its ever been, yet it still needs to grow by more than 10 times to meet the premier's 2050 savings goal.

Stephen Thompson, the executive director of capital markets for Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, said Monday the value of the fund increased by $654 million to $22.1 billion, establishing a new high for it.

A committee met Monday to review the Heritage Fund's third-quarter results for 2023. Year over year, the return on the fund was four per cent, falling below the five-per-cent benchmark.

Real estate, infrastructure and renewable resources all saw declines. Still, the fund was able to grow by $386 million in the third quarter.

The former Progressive Conservative government of Peter Lougheed created the Heritage Fund in 1976 using 30 per cent of Alberta resource revenues to put into savings.

In the 1980s, oil prices crashed, and money from the fund was used to balance budgets.

The UCP passed a law last year mandating all income earned in the Heritage Fund be invested into and not spent.

In February, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her goal is to grow the fund to at least $250 billion by 2050.

She says a review into the fund requested by the previous finance minister is now complete.

"That’s part of the reason why we can say with such confidence that we can achieve that target of $250-to-$400 billion by 2050," she said. "Of course, that all depends on how much extra we can put into it."

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says work on the plan is still being done and that he hopes to share more details about it to Albertans before the end of the year.