Azerbaijan, Baku, September 3 / Trend , N.Ismayilova /
In 2009, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) expects to receive revenues of approximately $50 million, Chairman of the Central Bank Elman Rustamov said on September 3.
"Over the first half year, the revenues of the Central Bank amounted to $23 million," said Rustamov.
He said that today about $350 million of currency reserves are on the external management. As of September 1, the currency reserves of CBA totaled $5.0012 billion. Today the CBA has three external managers - Treasury of the World Bank, the Swiss bank UBS and American JP Morgan.
"By the end of the year, we project an increase in this figure up to $5.5 billion, that is half of $1 million spent during 2009 will be returned," said Rustamov.
According to him, earlier it was predicted to bring the reserves to their previous levels, but due to financial support of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), the forecasts were revised.
"Compared to the observed losses in the world, this is a good indicator," said Rustamov.
In 2008, the CBA balanced the currency composition of its portfolio and today 60 percent in its currency reserves is in USD, while the remaining 40 percent in Euro and pound/sterling.
The portfolio of currency reserves was divided into two parts - investment and operating, for this reason, most of the reserves are concentrated in the U.S. currency.
The investment part of the portfolio is constantly growing and today they account for about 60 percent. Operating part is mainly associated with servicing the internal needs, external debt, and therefore, 90 percent of it was concentrated in USD.
The share of Euro in the investment portfolio is quite substantial.
The investment portfolio consists of various tools. Currency reserves in this portfolio are located in deposits, securities, and part was transferred to foreign management.
Today, the currency portfolio of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan is balanced in the ratio: 50 percent of assets shall be placed in the U.S. dollar equivalent, 40 percent in Euros. The remaining five percent shall be placed in pound/sterling and five percent - amongst those currencies or invested in the other spheres. During the quarter, this ratio can change, but should be balanced within these limits.
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