The assets of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) increased by 13% to $55 billion 524 million in January-September 2023.
According to the information of the Oil Fund, the growth of assets since the beginning of the year by 6 billion 490.4 million was due to the fact that SOFAZ budget revenues significantly exceeded expenditures. SOFAR’s revenues in January-September 2023 amounted to 14 billion 878.3 million manats.
The Fund’s revenues from the sale of profitable oil and gas amounted to 11 billion 422.1 million manats, transit revenues – 0.8 million manats, bonus payments – 800.7 million manats, acre payments – 3.6 million manats.
Revenues from the management of the SOFAZ’s funds over 9 months amounted to 2 billion 651.1 million manats.
The Fund’s expenditures in January-September 2023 amounted to 3 billion 587 million manats.
In the structure of expenditures, transfers to the state budget amounted to 3 billion 550 million manats, to finance the State Program to increase the international competitiveness of the higher education system in Azerbaijan for 2019-2023 – 10.8 million manats, to finance the State Program to train young people in prestigious universities of foreign countries for 2022-2026 – 6.1 million manats.
Administrative expenses for the management of the Fund amounted to 20.1 million manats. SOFAR’s off-budget expenditures from exchange rate fluctuations amounted to 257.8 million manats.
At the same time, 70.3% of the investment portfolio structure is placed in US dollars (by the end of 2022 – 68.6%), 19.2% – in euros (by the end of 2022 – 20.4%), 4.9% – pounds sterling (5.2%), 0.6% – Australian dollars (0.6%), 0.2% – Turkish lira (0.4%), 0.2% – Russian rubles (0.3%), 1% – Chinese yuan (1.1%), 1.4% – Japanese yen (1.3%), 2.2% – other currencies (2.1%).
61% of the Fund’s investment portfolio is placed in bonds and money market instruments (at the end of 2022 – 62.1%), 22.2% – stocks (at the end of 2022 – 19.6%), 5.8% – real estate (at the end of 2022 – 6.2%). The share of gold is 11% (at the end of 2022 – 12.1%), which is equivalent to 101.8 tons (at the end of 2022 – 101.8 tons).
According to the Fund, 95.9% of SOFAZ funds are placed in highly rated assets A, AA and AAA. The Oil Fund reports that 36.9% of SOFAZ’s investment portfolio is located in North America, 28.5% – in Europe, 14.6% – in the Asia-Pacific region, 0.1% – in South America, 0.1% – in Africa, 0.3% – in the Middle East, 0.6% – in Australia and New Zealand, 7.9% – in international organizations, in gold – 11%.
Caspian Barrel
