Azerbaijan's strategic FX reserves near $85.8B, up 10.4% on the year

Azerbaijan's strategic foreign exchange reserves climbed to $85.77 billion as of July 1, 2026, an increase of 10.4 percent compared with a year earlier, according to official data. The figure cements one of the strongest sovereign balance sheets in the wider Caspian and South Caucasus region.

The reserves — which combine the assets of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) and the Central Bank — slipped by about $2.67 billion during June alone, a monthly drawdown that reflects transfers to the state budget and currency-market operations rather than any structural weakness. Across the full year the trend remains firmly upward, buoyed by energy revenues and SOFAZ's investment returns.

The scale matters for Azerbaijan's macro-financial credibility: the reserves comfortably exceed the country's external public debt many times over, giving Baku a deep buffer against oil-price swings and room to finance its diversification agenda and Karabakh reconstruction. Rating agencies have repeatedly cited the reserve cushion as a key support for the sovereign's investment-grade standing.

The reserve strength also underwrites the manat's de facto peg to the U.S. dollar, anchoring price stability as the government pushes capital investment — up 13.8 percent in the first half of 2026 — and courts foreign investors at forums from Tashkent to Baku.

Source: APA, citing official statistics.