Norway's £740 billion sovereign wealth fund announced it will continue to invest in Britain despite uncertainty over the country's departure from the EU.

The fund - which is the world's biggest - takes a percentage of oil and has revenues and invests it around the world.

Last year, 8.5 per cent of the fund was invested in Britain - spread across equities, bonds and real estate.

Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund said his country would continue to invest in Brexit Britain regardless of the outcome of the Government's current negotiations with the European Union

Mr Slyngstad said he was looking for investments over the next 30-year period which will not be affected by the Brexit uncertainty

The fund's CEO Yngve Slyngstad said: 'We will continue to be significant' investors in Britain.

He added: 'And we foresee that over time that our investments in the UK will increase.'

However, the fund's British investments declined in value over the past 12 months.

He said: 'With our time horizon, which is 30 years plus, current political discussions do not change our view of the situation.'

Even so, Britain's share of the fund's portfolio slipped below Japan's to third from its usual spot in second behind the United States. Slyngstad said the dip was caused by a strengthening of the yen against the pound.

And he said Britain was included in a broad-based global equities buying spree worth about £22.5 billion from November to January when the fund reckoned it was buying shares on the cheap amid turmoil on markets.

The fund is one of the biggest foreign investors in Britain, as a co-owner of London's Regent Street, as a top five owner in firms such as HSBC and BP among others, and as a holder of roughly £6 billion of UK government debt.

Slyngstad also reaffirmed commitment to Britain even in the case of a 'no-deal' Brexit. Norway is not a member of the EU, although it is bound by many of its rules.

He said: 'We see no operational consequences of any possible outcomes.' He said that the fund had almost 250 staff in London and would stay at that level regardless of the outcome of the Brexit talks.

Worldwide, the fund owns about 1.4 percent of all equities.

Falls in stock markets meant that the fund, equivalent to £145,000 for every Norwegian man, woman and child, had a negative return on investment of 6.1 percent in 2018, down from a positive 13.7 percent in 2017.

And it lagged its benchmark index by 0.3 percentage point.

He continued: 'This is the first time that the fund has had a considerable decline in value. The only other time was a slight decline in 2002.'