OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's $860-billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, must develop a policy on how companies in which it has invested declare their taxes, parliament's finance committee said on Monday.
The fund, managed by a unit of the central bank, invests the income from Norway's oil industry. It owns 1.3 percent of the world's listed company equity, with stakes in some 9,050 firms.
The move is a first step by Norway to use the fund as a tool to combat the use of tax havens. It follows the Panama Papers leaks in April, which revealed details of corporate and individual tax evasion and triggered a global backlash. Two key committee members told Reuters of the move last week.
"Parliament urges the government to ask the central bank to consider developing an expectations document on tax for the companies (the fund) is invested in," the committee said in its recommendation, published online late on Monday.
"Clear expectations by financial investors like the fund can, in this area, prevent the development of illegal activities such as corruption, money laundering and tax evasion and thus contribute to better functioning markets."
The fund was not immediately available for comment.
The finance committee also called on the minority coalition to reexamine in a year's time whether the fund should be allowed to invest in unlisted infrastructure projects.
The fund's management had recommended it should, but was turned down by the finance ministry in April, due to the political risk attached to this type of investment.
Currently the fund can only invest in stocks, bonds and real estate. Its management has previously said it needs to expand to unlisted infrastructure projects to boost the rate of return.
"A majority in the committee wanted to have a little more time and is asking the government to return to the question (of investing in unlisted infrastructure) in a year's time," the leader of the finance committee in parliament, Hans Olav Syversen, told Reuters.
Green groups had been campaigning for the move as the fund is expected to invest in green projects such as wind farms. They welcomed Monday's recommendation.
"We see this as a partial victory," Nina Jensen, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Norway, told Reuters.
"Of course we think it is a shame that the decision is postponed by a year, but we hope that by giving it another year, Labour, the Conservatives and the Progress Party will mature their positions."
Parliament will vote on the white paper on June 3.