Revenues of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) amounted to 7 391.9 million manat in the first half of 2012 and expenses - 4 878.1 million manat, executive director of the Fund Shahmar Movsumov said at a press conference on the results of activity for the first six months.

He noted that most of the fund`s revenue - 95.9 per cent was provided through the sale of oil and gas. Income from implementation of oil contracts were at 7.0998 billion manat, including the sale of profitable oil and gas - 7091.4 million manat from transit payments - 3.8 million manat. During the reporting period, income from assets transferred by foreign investors amounted to 0.2 million manat. Some 292.1 million manat was obtained from the management of the Petroleum Fund in January-June. Bonus payments amounted to 1.6 million manat, and per acre payments - 2.8 million manat.

The structure of the Oil Fund expenditures includes 162.5 million manat which has been allocated for activities to improve the welfare of refugees and internally displaced persons, 67 million manat - to finance the project of reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system. Transfers to the state budget amounted to 4592.3 million manat. Five million manat was spent for the training of Azerbaijani students abroad as part of the state programme for 2007-2015. In addition 37 million manat were directed to finance the construction of a new railway Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. The costs on managing the fund amounted to 14.3 million manat. Fund expenses from exchange rate differences amounted to 289.2 million manat.

SOFAZ assets increased by 9.6 per cent as of July 1, 2012 compared to the beginning of the year ($29.8 billion), amounting to 32,666 million. The fund began buying gold since the first quarter of 2012 and the amount of acquired gold was 6.847 tons (220,146 ounces) as of July 1. State Oil Fund was established in 1999 and at that time its assets amounted to $271 million. Based on SOFAZ`s regulations, the funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems. The main purpose of the fund is the accumulation of funds and placement of its assets abroad to minimize the negative impact on the economy, preventing a `Dutch syndrome` to ensure savings for future generations and maintain the current socio-economic standard in the country.

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