As of Oct. 1, the assets of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) stood at $74.004 billion, up 0.6% from Jan. 1.
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports, citing the fund.
According to the information, SOFAZ’s budget revenues totaled 12.3413 billion manat in January-September, including 8.7406 billion manat in oil and gas revenues and 3.6007 billion manat in investment management income. The fund’s budget expenditures amounted to 9.6812 billion manat. Its off-budget expenses arising from changes in gold prices and foreign exchange rate differences totaled 1.874 billion manat.
During the first nine months, SOFAZ earned 7.3439 billion manat from sales of its profit oil and gas, 0.9 million manat from bonus payments and transit, and 4.9 million manat from acreage fees. The fund received 6.5706 billion manat from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field and 565.1 million manat from the Shah Deniz field.
During the reporting period, SOFAZ transferred 9.628 billion manat to the state budget. It also spent 3.6 million manat to finance the “State Program for 2019-2023 on Increasing the International Competitiveness of the Higher Education System,” 21.9 million manat for the “State Program for 2022-2028 on the Education of Young People at Prestigious Higher Education Institutions in Foreign Countries,” 2.2 million manat on international dual-degree programs and 25.5 million manat on management.
“Global financial markets remained highly volatile in the third quarter as ongoing geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures and expectations related to monetary policy continued to affect all major asset classes. Despite volatility during the quarter, global equity markets recorded positive returns, while government bond markets came under pressure amid rising yields. Commodity markets saw a significant increase, driven by higher energy prices, while gold prices were highly volatile and weakened toward the end of the quarter.
“Rising energy prices, persistent inflation and resilient economic activity during the quarter strengthened expectations that interest rates would remain elevated, resulting in higher government bond yields in major developed economies. Concerns over government borrowing and the large volume of debt securities issuance put additional pressure on long-term bond yields. Higher yields negatively affected bond prices.
“Resilient economic growth, strong corporate financial results and continued investment in artificial intelligence and related infrastructure supported gains in global equity markets during the quarter. Markets rebounded strongly in August, but higher bond yields and energy prices in September, alongside renewed tensions, weighed on investor sentiment and increased volatility. Despite these negative factors, global equity markets ended the quarter higher, while strong corporate fundamentals supported their resilience in a more challenging macroeconomic environment.
“Gold prices were highly volatile during the quarter. They rose significantly in August amid renewed geopolitical uncertainty and investment demand, but the trend reversed in September as U.S. Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar strengthened,” the information said.
