Gulf International Bank’s (GIB) Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund (EMOF) achieved a net return of 6.11 percent in 2015.

The fund, which invests in the debt of emerging market (EM) economies, has managed another year of strong returns in a market beset by macro worries.

Mark Watts, CFA, CEO, GIB UK, commented: “We are delighted with the returns that the EM team continues to deliver to clients; it is a testament to their deep understanding of the markets that we are able to navigate difficult conditions and still manage a good positive performance for our clients.”

2015 was a year of monetary policy divergence with the European Central Bank announcing an aggressive quantitative easing program and the Fed hiking rates for the first time since 2006.

China growth concerns prompted the People’s Bank of China into cutting rates and a devaluation of the renminbi that subsequently led to a stock market crash in August now known as China’s Black Monday. There was continued pressure on commodity prices, in particular oil which dropped to 11-year lows, given producers’ reluctance to cut supply and sluggish demand with the weakest global GDP growth post the 2007-2008 financial crises.

Idiosyncratic issues in certain countries like financial sanctions in Russia and Petrobras scandal, were also at play and weighed negatively on global sentiment and emerging markets in particular.

Jose Canepa, head of asset management, commented: “In a challenging year, we continued to deliver strong risk adjusted returns for both our hedge fund and portfolios in absolute and relative terms. We remain cautious in our investment approach but have been adding risk selectively. Entry levels are more attractive now than in 2015.”

GIB, established in Bahrain in 1975, is owned by the six GCC governments, with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia holding a majority stake (97.2 percent).