External public debt down

By Azernews

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijan’s economy shows positive indicators of economic growth, which are facilitated by successive implementation of reforms. Increasing capacity of the economy, rising competitiveness and technological innovations lead to higher results from year to year and diminish the country’s dependence on oil and gas exports.

As of July 1, 2019, Azerbaijan's direct and guaranteed external public debt equaled $8.92 billion, the Finance Ministry told local media.

In the beginning of the year, the indicator amounted to $8.927 billion. Thus, in the first half of 2019, the figure for external public debt recorded a decrease of 0.1 percent.

The public debt consists of direct obligations of Azerbaijan and obligations on loans attracted under a state guarantee. External public debt consists of loans attracted from international financial institutions for infrastructure projects and financing programs as well as securities placed in international financial markets.

On August 24, 2018, President Ilham Aliyev approved the "Medium- and Long-Term Government Debt Management Strategy." According to the document, the external debt of Azerbaijan will be reduced to 12 percent of GDP by 2026.

The country’s GDP growth in January-July 2019 amounted to 2.5 percent against 0.2 percent for the same period in 2018. In the reporting period, Azerbaijan’s nominal GDP reached 44.473 billion manats ($26.17 billion).

Azerbaijan's GDP in 2018 reached 79.8 billion manats ($46.8 billion), which was higher than forecasts by almost 15 percent. The main share of GDP accounted for the non-oil sector – 46.89 billion manats ($27.5 billion). The oil sector amounted to 32.9 billion manats ($19.3 billion), exceeding the forecast figures by 51.2 percent.

In general, thanks to structural reforms in Azerbaijan, the country leveled up from 57th to 25th position in the Doing Business Report and was ranked among the ten best reformed countries in the world and the best in the CIS.

Future outlook for the Azerbaijani economy is positive. Competent sources such as IMF and WB project promising indicators - 3.1 and 3.5 percent of GDP growth in 2020.