State Oil Fund acquires 550 kg of gold in 2020
By Ayya Lmahamad
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan purchased 17,916 troy ounces of gold (about 550 kg) in the first half of 2020, local media reported with the reference to company’s press service on July 20.
According to the statement, as of June 30, the share of gold in the structure of the fund’s investment portfolio is 13.6 percent, which is equivalent to 101.8 tons, or 3.2 million troy ounces.
Moreover, as of December 31, 2019 the share of gold in the fund’s structure investment portfolio was 11.4 percent or 101,244 tons (3.2 million troy ounces) worth $4.93 billion.
Gold investment policy accounts to at least 10 percent of the total investment portfolio value.
It should be noted that since the beginning of 2012, SOFAZ has been purchasing gold. Lately, in 2014-2017 operations of buying gold stopped. In 2018, SOFAZ resumed the purchase of gold and purchased 20,778 kg of gold. In addition, in 2019, the Fund purchased over 50.2 tons of gold.
Earlier it was reported that, the assets of SOFAZ, which at the end of the first quarter of 2020 amounted to $41.3 billion, increased by $1.8 billion at the end of June and amounted to $43.2 billion US dollars.
SOFAZ was established in December 1999 by the Presidential Decree and is a sovereign wealth fund of Azerbaijan, which accumulates and preserves the nation's oil and gas revenues for future generations. The fundamental mission of SOFAZ is to ensure intergenerational equality with regard to the country's oil wealth and to accumulate and safeguard the oil revenues for generations to come.
The Fund accumulates income from the sale of oil contracts, and in 2003, it started to make transfers to the state budget of Azerbaijan. As for now, SOFAZ contribution to the country’s GDP is over 80 percent.
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