BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
The Fitch Ratings agency has revised the Outlook on Azerbaijan’s Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Stable from Negative, affirming it at 'BB+', Trend reports on May 15 referring to the agency.
According to the agency, sovereign foreign-currency assets ended 2020 at $49.9 billion, which is $300 million higher than end-2019, of which the sovereign wealth fund (SOFAZ) comprises $43.6 billion.
External pressures have dissipated since $2.5 billion of SOFAZ FX (foreign exchange) holdings were drawn down in March and April 2020 to support the 1.7 AZN/USD exchange rate, and net demand for FX has been stable," Fitch said.
As reported, SOFAZ FX sales (which are determined by the budget transfer amount) totaled $7.3 billion in 2020, $700 million higher than in 2019.
"SOFAZ assets marginally increased in 2020 as strong investment returns, helped by a rise in gold prices, offset the budget transfer and drag from lower oil prices," added the agency.
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