Government predicts 2.3 pct GDP growth this year

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan’s GDP growth will be 2.3 percent following the results of 2019 against 1.4 percent in 2018.

According to updated government forecasts, this year's GDP growth rates will be lower than the initial estimates of 3.2 percent.

In addition, the country’s nominal GDP will be 79.1 billion manats ($46.54 billion) in 2019 compared to 79.8 billion manats ($46.95 billion) in 2018.

As of 2019, the growth of oil GDP will increase to 0.8 percent from 0.6 percent in 2018, while non-oil GDP - to 3.2 percent from 1.8 percent a year earlier.

Azerbaijan’s GDP growth amounted to 1.4 percent, and average annual inflation amounted to 2.3 percent in 2018.

Azerbaijan is a country with a well-developed industrial sector. Industrial output accounts for almost 60 percent of the country’s GDP. Increasing capacity of the economy, rising competitiveness and technological innovations enabled diminishing the country’s dependence on oil and gas exports.

The country's GDP reached 79.8 billion manats ($46.95 billion) last year, which is almost 15 percent higher than the forecasts.

The main share of GDP accounted for the non-oil sector, 46.89 billion manats ($27.59 billion). The share of the oil sector, exceeding the forecast figures by 51.2 percent, amounted to 32.9 billion manats ($19.36 billion).