Azernews.Az

By Nigar Abbasova

The strategic currency reserves of Azerbaijan have exceeded the external debt of the country by 4.4 times and amounted to more than $38.3 billion in the first half of 2016, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) reported.

“The strategic currency reserves were preserved at the necessary level and are sufficient for covering import of goods and services within 32 month,” the report reads.

Assets of the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) totaled $35.1 billion as of July, 1 facing an increase of 4.6 percent as compared to the rate of $33.57 billion in early 2016. Strategic reserves falling to a share of the CBA hit roughly $ 4,284 billion facing a decrease of 17.02 percent within the first half of 2016.

Money transfers to Azerbaijan amounted to $423 million in the reported period, while the index stood at $511 million in the first half of 2015.

The volume of foreign investments directed to fixed capital of the country amounted to 4.3 billion manats ($ 2.6 billion) in the reported period, which made some 62.9 percent of the total investments made in the fixed capital.

Growth rates of foreign investments totaled 32.3 percent. The largest part of investments made in the fixed capital of the country fell to a share of investors from UK, Turkey, Russia, Iran, USA, Japan, Malaysia, and Switzerland.

The largest volume of foreign investments in the fixed capital of the country was fixed in January and accounted for 71.5 percent of total investments, while the bottom-line figure of 49.6 percent was fixed in May.

The official exchange rate of the US dollar and euro to Azerbaijani manat was set at 1.6102 manats and 1.7936 manats, respectively, on August 12.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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