Finance Minister Sahil Babayev said Azerbaijan’s strategic foreign currency reserves reached $89.4 billion as of October 1, a sum 20 times larger than the country’s external public debt.
Sahil Babayev made the announcement at a meeting of the Milli Majlis Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship, where lawmakers discussed the draft law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2027.” He said the strategic foreign currency reserves of $89.4 billion far exceed the country’s external debt obligations.
The finance minister said the government is steadily reducing its reliance on oil revenues. According to Babayev, Azerbaijan has pursued a consistent policy of lowering the annual transfer from the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the state budget.
He noted that by 2030, that transfer will be cut by $1.5 billion to $5.5 billion. Babayev described the move as the result of systematic efforts to reduce the budget’s dependence on oil.
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