Azeri state fund to boost share of gold in its holdings this year

Azeri state oil fund SOFAZ said on Thursday that it plans to increase the share of gold in its holdings to 10 percent this year from 5 percent at the end of 2018.

SOFAZ, which has been buying gold since 2012, holds the former Soviet country’s proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue.

“During 2019, SOFAZ plans to purchase gold taking into account factors like the price of gold in the global market and acceptable share of gold in the investment portfolio,” the fund told Reuters.

SOFAZ held 50.95 tonnes of gold worth $2.1 billion at the end of 2018.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Dale Hudson).