SOFAZ's sales of foreign currency hit $637.7m in December

By Ayya Lmahamad

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan sold funds in the amount of $637.7 million at foreign currency auctions in December 2020, the Fund has reported.

According to the statement, there was an increase in the volume of foreign currency sales by 28.6 percent compared to November. It should be noted that SOFAZ sold funds in the amount of $495.5 million at foreign currency auctions in November 2020.

Moreover, the fund sold funds in the amount of around $7.2 billion at foreign currency auctions during 2020.

SOFAZ is currently the main source of currency sale at currency auctions.

It should be noted that the revenues of the State Oil Fund from the major oil and gas fields amounted to $3.8 billion for the period of January-November 2020. Of this, revenues from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields, which are the largest oil fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, amounted to $3.3 billion, while the fund's revenues from the Shah Deniz field, which is among the world’s largest gas-condensate fields, amounted to $276 million. Revenues from the sale of condensate from Shah Deniz field amounted to $205 million.

During the period of 2003-2019, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan transferred $99.7 billion to the state budget.

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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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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