Azerbaijan's Oil Fund boosts share of US dollars in its investment portfolio
By Akbar Mammadov
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has increased to 66 percent the share of assets in USD in the 1st quarter of 2020, the fund reported on 16 April.
“As of March 31, 2020, SOFAZ assets amounted to $41 billion 349.5 million, of which the equivalent is $10.4 million in Azerbaijani manats, the rest in other currencies,” the data says.
It should be noted the State Oil Fund's investment portfolio is $41 billion 339.1 million as of March.
At the same time, in the structure of the investment portfolio, 66% is placed in the US dollars (56.6% in late 2019), 22.9% - euros (in late 2019 - 31.4%), 4.8% - pounds sterling (in late 2019 - 5.1%), 0.5% - in Australian dollars (in late 2019 - 0.6%), 0.8% - Turkish liras (in late 2019 - 0.8%), 0.5 % - Russian rubles (in late 2019 - 0.8%), 0.5% - South Korean won (in late 2019 - 0.5%), 1.2% - Chinese yuan (in late 2019 - 1, 2%), 1.5% - Japanese yen (in late 2019 - 1.5%), 1.3% - other currencies (in late 2019 - 1.5%).
According to the fund, 33.16% of SOFAR's investment portfolio was allocated in Europe (in late 2019 - 33.8%), 27.22% in North America (in late 2019 - 24.91%), 33.06% - in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region (in late 2019 - 33.76%), the rest - in other regions.
The data the fund reported shows that 68.7% of the fund's investment portfolio is placed in bonds and money market instruments (at the end of 2019 - 68.7%), 12.4% - in stocks (at the end of 2019 - 14.1%), 6.1 % - real estate (at the end of 2019 - 5.8%), as well as the share of investments in gold accounted for 12.8% (at the end of 2019 - 11.4%), which is equivalent to 101.6 tons (in late 2019 - 101.2 tons).
"Some 89.2% of SOFAZ funds are placed in high-ranking assets A, AA and AAA", the fund reports.
The Oil Fund of Azerbaijan accumulates revenues from the implementation of oil and gas contracts, in particular from the sale of profitable oil and gas of the state, transit tariffs for the transportation of oil and gas through the country, from the rental of state property, etc.
A number of agreements on joint development of oil and gas resources were signed with foreign investors in the frame of the Oil Strategy, set up by Former President Heydar Aliyev.
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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97
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