The assets of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan increased by 17% in the first 9 months of this year, rising from 60 billion dollars to 70 billion dollars.
Economist expert Samir Aliyev told Medianews.az that the main driving force of the increase was the gold within the assets of the State Oil Fund: “During 9 months, both the volume and price of gold increased. The volume of gold in the assets was increased from 146.6 tons to 184.8 tons. During this period, the approximate price of 1 ounce of gold rose from 2641 dollars to 3873 dollars. Only due to the increase in the price and volume of gold, the assets of the State Oil Fund increased by more than 10 billion dollars.”
Another major increase resulted from the exchange rate difference caused by the depreciation of the US dollar against the world's main currencies, which make up two-thirds of the assets. Within 9 months, following the 13% appreciation of the European currency, which constitutes one-fifth of the assets, the value of assets in dollar terms increased by up to 1.5 billion. At the same time, the British pound sterling (7.1%), Japanese yen (5.6%), and Chinese yuan (2.2%) included in the assets also gained value.”
Togrul Ali,
Medianews.az
