details added (first version posted at 15:01)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) will save nearly $2 billion due to the devaluation of the manat in 2016, SOFAZ told Trend Dec. 21.
SOFAZ has covered all expenditures for the current year, including transfers to the state budget.
"By transferring 980 million manat to the state budget in December, SOFAZ brought the payments up to the planned 8.13 billion manat," SOFAZ said. "In this regard, SOFAZ does not expect savings as a result of the devaluation of the manat in 2015."
As for 2016, SOFAZ forecasts savings worth 1.94 billion manat as a result of the conversion.
"According to SOFAZ's draft budget-2016, the expenditure reach 8.26 billion manat, or $7.87 billion at the rate of 1,05 AZN / USD which was during the period of approving the project," SOFAZ said. "Among SOFAZ's all expenses in 2016, only expenditures on the Southern Gas Corridor and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars projects are envisaged in dollars worth 1.87 billion. The rest expenditures are envisaged in manat in the amount of 6.3 billion. According to the new exchange rate, this reaches $4.07 billion (instead of 6 billion before the devaluation). Thus, this will allow saving $1.94 billion on the conversion in the future."
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 was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.
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, the prevention of "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.
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