BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 19. Investments in North America accounted for 26.2 percent of the investment portfolio of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Data obtained by Trend from the Fund indicates that this represents a 6.9 percent decrease compared to the same period of 2024, when North American investments made up 33.1 percent of SOFAZ's portfolio.
Furthermore, during this year's reporting period, a hefty slice of the fund's investment pie—29.8 percent—was dished out to Europe, while Asia snagged 11.8 percent. The Middle East got a mere crumb at 0.8 percent, New Zealand and Australia shared a sliver at 0.7 percent, and Latin America was left with just a drop in the bucket at 0.1 percent.
Investments in gold accounted for 25.8 percent of the portfolio, while investments in international financial institutions made up 4.8 percent.
To note, the total investment portfolio of the SOFAZ amounted to $62.45 billion in the first quarter of 2025.
This metric experienced an escalation of $5.4 billion, reflecting a 9.5 percent uptick relative to the corresponding timeframe in the preceding fiscal year. As of the conclusion of Q1 2024, the aggregate asset allocation of the fund's investment portfolio stood at a substantial $57 billion.
In the reporting period, 66.1 percent of the total investment portfolio was in US dollars ($41.24 billion), 21.4 percent in euros (12.2 billion), 5.1 percent in British pounds (2.4 billion), 2.5 percent in Chinese yuan (1.27 billion), 1.3 percent in Japanese yen (122.9 billion), and 3.6 percent in other currencies ($2.28 billion).
Established in 1999 with assets amounting to $271 million at the time, SOFAZ is an extrabudgetary fund that operates as a distinct legal entity, independent of the government or central bank. SOFAZ protects and judiciously administers energy-derived revenues for current and forthcoming generations. A fundamental principle of SOFAZ is transparency. During this era, the Fund has evolved institutionally and attained international recognition as an asset management organization.