Azeri oil fund SOFAZ's sales on FX market down 20 pct in Jan-Sept yr/yr

   

Azerbaijan relies on oil and gas exports to cover 75 percent of its revenues and a sharp fall in oil prices has prompted its currency, the manat, to tumble, and put pressure on the budget.

   

The $36-billion SOFAZ sovereign wealth oil fund holds proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue. It uses income from investments to pay for social spending and infrastructure projects.

   

The fund had been supporting the ailing manat currency by selling dollars on the foreign exchange market.

   

The central bank said in its monthly report that SOFAZ sold $4 billion during 88 currency auctions in the first nine months of this year, down from $5 billion in the same period last year.

   

"Decline in imports and services as well as reduction of dollarisation in the country had an impact on reduction of demand on foreign currency," the central bank said.