17:49 - 8.01.2020

---

January 8, Fineko/abc.az. Expert economist Samir Aliyev expressed his attitude towards the statement of the volume of foreign currency sold by the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) in December.

ABC.AZ reports that according to the expert, in the last month of 2019 the Fund sold $886.35 million and this is the highest indicator for the last 4 years. He added that the volume of dollars sold in December is by 31% more versus the 2018 same term.

"In general, in the past year SOFAZ sold $6.59 bn on the domestic market," the expert said.

"The annual sales of the foreign currency amounted to $6.46 bn in 2018, $3.6 bn in 2017, and $4.59 bn in 2016. A notable point here is a sharp increase in foreign currency sales in December. I think the sharp growth is linked not with high demand, but with SOFAZ’s obligation to the State Budget. Thus, in accord with the Law on State Budget 2019 the transfer to the State Budget by SOFAZ was expected to be AZN 11.4 bn. For that, SOFAZ had to implement the budgeted sales of US dollars ($6.69 bn at the official exchange rate of the Central Bank). But as the Fund sold only $5.7 bn for Jan-Nov 2019, it had to sell about $1 bn in December in order to fulfill fully the obligation. As it is seen, the volume of currency sold is $886.35 million," the expert emphasized.

By Elmir Murad