Azerbaijan Oil Fund weighs buying Yuan after Aussie, Lira, Ruble

Baku, June 3 (AzerTAc). Azerbaijan`s State Oil Fund, known as SOFAZ, is considering investing in the Chinese yuan as it broadens expansion into new currencies to diversify reserves. “We are currently exploring the Chinese currency,” SOFAZ Executive Secretary Shahmar Movsumov told reporters in Baku. “There are some institutional problems to resolve. Investors cannot just come and invest in China any time they wish. There are some very strict terms.” SOFAZ, established in 1999 to manage the nation`s income from the sale of oil and natural gas, added the Russian ruble, Turkish lira and Australian dollar to its portfolio last year and began investing in gold and real estate. It had $34.1 billion in assets on Jan. 1, equivalent to almost 50 percent of the Caspian Sea nation`s economy.