what is the heritage and stabilization fund hsf 
the heritage and stabilization fund is a sovereign wealth fund established in march 2007 by the republic of trinidad and tobago government it was previously known as the interim revenue stabilization fund which was set up in 2000 the primary objectives of the fund are to save and invest surplus petroleum production revenues to support and sustain public expenditures during periods of revenue downturn and to provide a heritage for future generations of the nation 12investopedia jiaqi zhouunderstanding the heritage and stabilization fund hsf the heritage and stabilization fund was created in the heritage and stabilization act no 6 of 2007 it is denominated in u s dollars and its fiscal year ends in september the fund provides a cushion to the economy of the islands in times when the price of oil or natural gas has fallen by the end of 2022 the fund had net assets of 4 6 billion down from 5 5 billion in 2021 compared with a value of 1 4 billion in 2007 34rules of the fundaccording to its governing legislation the fund is intended to a cushion the impact on or sustain public expenditure capacity during periods of revenue downturn whether caused by a fall in prices of crude oil or natural gas b generate an alternate stream of income to support public expenditure capacity as a result of revenue downturn caused by the depletion of non renewal petroleum resources and c provide a heritage for future generations of citizens of trinidad and tobago from savings and investment income derived from the excess petroleum revenues 2under the legislation that established the fund withdrawals are limited to 60 of the amount of the shortfall of petroleum revenues for the relevant year or 25 of the balance of the fund at the beginning of that year whichever is the lesser amount the act precludes any withdrawal where the balance standing to the credit of the fund would fall below one billion us dollars if such withdrawal were to be made 5withdrawals are allowed where the petroleum revenues collected in any financial year fall below the estimated petroleum revenues for that financial year by at least 10 withdrawals may be made from the fund 6recent fund historyfollowing a sharp drop in energy prices in 2015 the fund reported that it withdrew approximately 375 million to contribute to its annual budget this was the first such net withdrawal since the fund s inception in its 2016 annual report the fund stated that its cumulative annualized return since inception was 5 34 outperforming the benchmark of 4 87 7in the 2020 2021 fiscal year the fund had a net asset value of 5 47 billion following 2 5 billion in withdrawals intended to ease the hardships faced by the most affected sections of the population and by small and medium sized businesses 8in june 2022 the fund s net asset value shrank to 4 7 billion half a million lower than its nav at the end of the first quarter of that year 3