Azeri state oil fund's assets up 4.6 pct in H1 to $35.1 bln by July 1

SOFAZ holds proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue. It uses income from investments to pay for social spending and infrastructure projects.

SOFAZ revenues reached 3.99 billion manats ($2.6 billion) in the first half of 2016, while its expenditures totalled 2.26 billion manats, the fund said in a statement. SOFAZ assets dropped by 9.5 percent year-on-year in 2015 to $33.57 billion.

The fund's spending in 2016 is forecast at 10.7 billion manats, with revenues at 4.6 billion manats.

The Caucasus nation of 9 million people relies on oil and gas exports for about 75 percent of its revenues, but the oil price slump has triggered a plunge in the manat.