BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 22. The share of investments placed for more than five years in the investment portfolio of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) stood at 27.5 percent as of the end of the first quarter of the current year.
Data obtained by Trend from SOFAZ shows this figure's growth by 0.5 percentage point compared to the same period last year (27 percent).
Additionally, during the current reporting period, the portfolio allocations were as follows: investments with a duration of three to five years accounted for 24.7 percent, investments with a duration of one to three years accounted for 32.8 percent, and investments with a duration of up to one year accounted for 15 percent. These figures indicate that SOFAZ continues to diversify its investment portfolio across various time horizons, balancing short-term and long-term assets.
Investments in North America accounted for 26.2 percent of the investment portfolio of SOFAZ by the end of the first quarter of 2025, representing a 6.9 percentage point decrease compared to the same period of 2024 (33.1 percent).
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.
The total investment portfolio of SOFAZ amounted to $62.45 billion in the first quarter of this year.
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.
