FT says Azerbaijan's gold-buying strategy ranks among most successful for sovereign investors

Azerbaijan has emerged as one of the world"s largest buyers of gold, second only to China, according to an analysis by the Financial Times based on UK export data, Olaylar informs.

The British newspaper noted that Azerbaijan ranks second in an informal list of global "gold whales," a position occupied by a far less obvious player than traditional large reserve holders.

The Financial Times highlighted the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), which manages assets of about $70 billion, as having pursued an extensive diversification strategy in recent years, sharply increasing its exposure to gold. At the same time, the fund has continued to invest in landmark overseas real estate, including properties such as 78 St Jameschr("39")s Street in London, 8 Place Vendôme in Paris and Gallery Actor in Moscow.

The publication placed particular emphasis on gold. The share of the precious metal in SOFAZchr("39")s asset structure rose to 38.2% at the end of 2025 from 20.6% a year earlier. The increase was driven not only by higher global gold prices: the fundchr("39")s gold holdings expanded to 200 tons by the end of 2025 from 146.6 tons at the end of 2024.

"For years, SOFAZ has been one of the most transparent of sovereign wealth funds in terms of its asset ownership and the managers it employs," the article said.

Returns recalculated by the Financial Times appear significantly stronger, to the extent that they could rival - or even surpass - the performance of Norwaychr("39")s Government Pension Fund or New Zealandchr("39")s Super Fund, according to the author.

According to FT, SOFAZchr("39")s total portfolio return including on gold was estimated at 5.3% in 2020 and exceeded 20% in 2025, the Financial Times said.

As a result, Azerbaijanchr("39")s strategy of aggressively building up gold reserves has been among the most effective approaches adopted by sovereign investors in recent years, even if this is not yet fully reflected in official reporting, the newspaper concluded.

According to SOFAZ data, excluding gold, portfolio returns stood at 2.82% in 2020 and 6.2% in 2025.