As at January 1, the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) posted its assets at 8 986.7 mln. manats (USD 11 219.2 mln.), up 4.3 times on a year ago.

Revenue of 11 633.5 mln. manats was received from implementation of oil and gas agreements, including 11 527,0 mln. manats from the sale of profit oil, 3.6 mln. manats as acreage payments, 2.8 million manats as bonus payments, 0.2 mln. manats as transit payments, 97.2 mln. manats from Azerbaijan’s State participating interest in the Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Main Export Pipeline and 2.7 mln. from sale of assets received from foreign companies.
The revenues from managing assets of the Fund for the reporting period amounted to 231.2 mln. manats.
As per 2008 budget of the Fund, the expenditures in the amount of 145.0 mln. manats were directed to financing of improvement of social condition of refugees and internally displaced persons, 120.6 mln. manats and 211.8 mln. manats were accordingly used for financing the reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system and financing construction of the Oghuz-Gabala-Baku water supply system. 5.3 mln. manats were directed to financing Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and 2.3 mln. manats to financing “The state program on the study of Azerbaijani youth abroad in the years 2007-2015”.
3 800.0 mln. manats were transferred to the state budget. The Fund’s administrative and operating expenses in this period were 6.8 mln. manats.
The Fund paid profit tax and other taxes of 26,0 mln. manats. The Fund’s extra-budgetary expenditure due to asset revaluation stood at 652.6 mln. manats.
Basket of currencies weighted return on the Fund’s assets in 2008 constituted 3.79%.
The Fund holds 52.67% of its assets in the USD, 42.95% in the Euro and 2.38% in the pound sterling.
As to the investment portfolio, 93.79% was invested in securities, 1.8% in short-term commercial papers, 3.5% in deposits and money market instruments, and 0.91% in bank accounts.
89.19% of the bonds SOFAZ holds carry AAA rating, 4.78% AA and 6.02% A.
33.41% of the funds were invested for a up to one year period, 60.66% for 1-3 years and 5.5% for 3-5 years.
Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA-ECONOMICS