By Azernews

The Azerbaijani State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) has said that its budget revenues and expenditures respectively totaled AZN 2.9 billion ($1.7bn) and AZN 2.7 billion ($1.5bn) in the first quarter of 2022.

SOFAZ revenues from oil and gas agreement implementation totaled AZN 4.6 billion ($2.7bn), including AZN 3.8 billion ($2.2bn) from the sale of profit oil and gas during the reported period.

Furthermore, bonus payments accounted for AZN 765.3 million ($450.1m), and transit payments accounted for AZN 5.8 million ($3.4m) of revenue.

In the first quarter, the extra-budgetary income from exchange rate fluctuations amounted to AZN 214.3 million ($126m).

During the reporting period, AZN 2.7 billion ($1.5bn) was transferred to the state budget as part of the execution of the SOFAZ budget for 2022. In addition, AZN 2.2 million ($1.2bn) was allocated to finance the "state program for raising the competitiveness of higher education in Azerbaijan for 2019-2023".

Expenses related to the management of SOFAZ in January-March 2022 amounted to AZN 5.3 million ($3.1m).

As of March 31, 2022, SOFAZ assets increased 0.53 percent from the beginning of 2022 to $45.2 million.

Rising energy prices led to an increase in oil and gas revenues, which, in turn, was the main reason for the increase in assets.

SOFAZ is a sovereign wealth fund founded in 1999 to collect and preserve Azerbaijan's oil and gas revenues for future generations. It earns money from the sale of oil contracts and began transferring funds to Azerbaijan's state budget in 2003. As of now, the fund contributes more than 80 percent of the country's GDP.