Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund SOFAZ said it had sold $539.9 million on the foreign exchange market in October compared to $565 million sold in September this year.

In January-October 2021, SOFAZ sold $4.845 billion at the currency auctions, 21.4 percent down from the same period last year.

SOFAZ said last month it planned to sell $2.4 billion at currency auctions in the fourth quarter of this year to transfer manats to the country’s state budget.

In 2020, the Fund sold $7.304 billion on the forex market.

SOFAZ sovereign wealth oil fund holds proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue. It mainly uses income from investments to pay for social spending and infrastructure projects. The Fund sells dollars at the currency auctions to transfer manats to the state budget.