PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday defended the performance of state-owned investment companies after a plunge in the value of their stakes in Citigroup, Merrill Lynch & Co and other global banks.

He said the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) and Temasek Holdings Pte, which manage more than US$100 billion (S$151 billion) of assets each, should be assessed on their overall portfolio returns instead of the performance of specific assets, Bloomberg news reported.

'The situation looks a lot gloomier now than when they went in but these are long-term investments. It looks under water now, but the situation can change,' Mr Lee told the Foreign Correspondents Association at a lunch on Friday. 'But if you are taking a long-term view, you have to be in on the downs as well as the ups.'

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