Azerbaijan, Baku, July 25 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Budget revenues of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) for the period of January-June, 2011 reached 7.827.2 billion manats, while budget expenditures constituted 2.593.1 bln. Mantas, SOFAZ reported.
Revenue of 7.692.2 bln. manat for the period of January-June, 2011 was received from implementation of oil and gas agreements, including 7.518.1 bln. manat from the sale of profit oil and gas, 101.7 mln. manats from difference in price from the phase I of Shah Deniz, 66.8 mln. manats from dividends on Azerbaijan's State participation share in the Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Main Export Pipeline, 3.8 mln. manats as transit payments, 1.2 mln. manats as acreage payments and 0.6 mln. manats from sale of assets received from foreign companies.
The revenues from managing assets of the Fund for the reporting period amounted to 135.0 mln. manats.
The Fund's extra-budgetary revenues related to the revaluation of foreign exchange totalled 482.4 million manats.
As per execution of 2011 Fund's budget 2.461.0 bln. manat were transferred to the state budget. The expenditures in the amount of 47.2 mln. manat were directed to financing of improvement of social condition of refugees and internally displaced persons, 64.1 mln. manats and 2.3 mln. manat were accordingly used for financing the reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system and financing construction of the Oghuz-Gabala-Baku water supply system. 4.6 mln. manat were directed to financing "The state program on the education of Azerbaijan youth abroad in the years 2007-2015". 9.3 mln. manat were directed to financing Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
The Fund's administrative and operational expenses for current period were 4.6 mln. manat.
The assets of SOFAZ as at July 1, 2011 has grown by 33.3 % compared to the beginning of 2011 (USD 22.766.8 bln.) and stood at USD 30.357.5 bln.
SOFAZ was established in 1999; its assets amounted to $271 million.
Based on SOFAZ's regulations, the funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems. In 2001-2009 special attention was drawn to the development of the oil and infrastructure sectors, as well as the non-oil sector of the country. At the moment, a number of important projects in
irrigation and transportation are financed at the expense of the funds.
The main purposes of the fund are: accumulation of funds and placement of the fund's assets abroad to minimize the negative impact on the economy, preventing a "Dutch syndrome" to ensure savings for future generations and to maintain the current socio-economic standard in the
country.