Over the past year, SOFAZ’s assets increased by USD 7 billion or 14.3%.

The AUM of SOFAZ stood at 56,069.7 mln USD as of 31 December, 2023, an increase of around 14.3% (or 7 billion US dollars) compared to the figure at the start of the year (49,033.6 mln USD).

In the fiscal year 2023, the SOFAZ budget was executed with a surplus of 9,829 million manats.

The fund’s budget revenues and expenses covering the year 2023, totaled 21,661.9 mln AZN and 11,832.6 mln AZN, respectively.

During the same period, 15,324.1 mln AZN was received from the implementation of oil and gas contracts, including 14,519.0 mln AZN from the sale of profit oil and gas, 800.7 mln AZN from the collection of bonus payments, 0.8 mln AZN from transit payments and another 3.6 mln AZN from the acreage fee.

In 2023, SOFAZ's investments generated revenues totaling 6,337.8 million manats.

In the current reporting period, 11,737.6 mln AZN has been transferred to the state budget, as per the fund’s approved budget for 2023. An additional 27.9 mln has been directed towards funding “State program – covering the period of 2019-2023 – for increasing the compatibility of the education system in Azerbaijan with international standards” and 34.3 million manats to finance “State Program for the Education of Youth at Prestigious Universities of Foreign Countries for 2022-2026”. Operating expenses of SOFAZ covering the same year were 32.8 mln AZN.

The extra-budgetary revenues of SOFAZ amounted to 2,132.1 million manats due to the revaluations in the exchange rates.

The increase in assets in 2023 can be attributed to the surplus of SOFAZ budget revenues over budget expenditures, alongside favorable investment returns and additional extra-budgetary revenues.

Over the preceding year, SOFAZ achieved an investment return of 7.1%, marking the highest rate of return since its inception.

In 2023, financial markets experienced a notable year of volatility, driven by uncertainties surrounding economic growth and inflation, particularly as central banks in many developed countries continued policy tightening. Despite expectations of a potential recession, the deceleration in inflation levels observed in advanced countries, coupled with economic resilience, positively impacted financial markets, particularly in the latter part of the year.

Following two consecutive years of losses, most of the bond indices recorded positive returns towards the year-end. Simultaneously, major stock indices also concluded the year with positive gains, fueled by optimistic expectations of potential interest rate cuts by the central banks of advanced economies.