Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 23
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) plans to resume sale of foreign currency on the domestic market starting from 2016, the fund told Trend.
"Given the fact that the main SOFAZ revenues from the oil and gas sale are received in foreign currency, the fund is obliged to sell the foreign currency on the domestic market to fulfill the obligations on the budget expenditures, including transfers to the state budget," the fund said.
"Given the fact that in 2015, SOFAZ mainly completed fulfilling expenditure obligations, the fund will resume foreign currency sale only in 2016," said the fund.
Previously, it was noted that SOFAZ carries out foreign exchange transactions with the leading banks of the country in accordance with the schedule provided by the ministry of finance of Azerbaijan.
Based on SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.
The main goals of the State Oil Fund include: accumulation of resources and the placement of the fund's assets abroad in order to minimize the negative affect on the economy, prevention of "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.
As of October 1, 2015, SOFAZ assets reduced by 6.38 percent compared to early 2015 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $34.74 billion.
SOFAZ's revenues totaled 5.54 billion manats, while budget expenditures - 6.4 billion manats January-September 2015. SOFAZ's transfers to the state budget hit 5.65 billion manats.
SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.
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