Finance

Finance

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan expects to keep assets up this year

06 April 2009 08:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev - APA-Economics. State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) intends to invest in more risky and profitable areas as a long-term investor after the global financial crisis. Shahmar Movsumov, the Executive Director of SOFAZ, said these steps could be taken after the world economy recovers.
He said the Fundâ€™s owns 11 billion dollarsâ€™ worth of assets managed on the world financial markets.
â€œIf oil price remains steady around 50 dollars a barrel, the Fundâ€™s assets are projected to remain at 11 billion dollars at the year-end. This yearâ€™s spending will be equal to the revenue receipts. Therefore, the assets will not drop by the year-end,â€ he added.
He said they pursue a conservative policy with regard to the investments of oil revenues.
â€œDespite the global financial crisis, SOFAZ made a profit last year,â€ he added, citing the Government Pension Fund of Norway which suffered a 23% loss in investments in 2008