State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan comments on reports of drop in profitability in 2018
By Trend
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) commented on reports of a drop in its profitability in 2018, Trend reports referring to SOFAZ.
In accordance with the Law on Chamber of Accounts and the legislative acts regulating the activities of SOFAZ, the Chamber of Accounts annually issues an opinion on the draft budget and the report on the execution of the Fund’s budget. Also, when drawing up an opinion on the draft budget and report on the execution of the SOFAZ budget by the Fund’s supervisory board, the opinion of the Chamber is taken into account.
At the same time, the Chamber of Accounts regularly conducts an audit of SOFAZ. The results of audits and evaluations of the Chamber are posted on its website.
It is reported that the Chamber conducted an analytical study on the execution of the SOFAZ budget in 2018, the results of which will be published soon.
According to the source, global stock markets were too volatile in 2018. Despite the positive dynamics in global markets during the first 9 months of the previous year, anxious tension was observed on the stock market during the last quarter, amid pessimistic forecasts about a decrease in the growth of major global economies.
Tensions around Brexit, decline in growth of the Chinese economy, concerns about the interest rate policy of the US Federal Reserve, as well as falling profits of American companies amid rising interest rates in the US, all led to low profitability in stock markets.
High price volatility in these markets, and the resulting recessive trend in 2018, certainly affected the main long-term institutional investors, including sovereign reserve funds.