CBA: Azerbaijan ensures high economic growth during global recession

The Sixth Caspian International Banking and Finance Conference and Exhibition 2010 will be a good testing ground for discussing topical issues in light of the global financial crisis, Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Chairman Elman Rustamov said at the opening of the conference.

Iteca Caspian is the conference and exhibition organizer.

"Last year was a serious challenge for Azerbaijan's economy, but at the same time international financial organizations see that Azerbaijan was well prepared and coped well," Rustamov said.

He said Azerbaijan has high rates of economic growth and is at the forefront for this indicator in the global recession.

"During the crisis, Azerbaijan focused on ensuring financial stability. Problems were inevitable, with an unexpectedly high growth rate on the Azerbaijani banking sector - 9-10 times. The crisis could have accelerated this process. But the CBA informed the banking sector and called for more conservative politics while building the pace of growth," Rustamov said.

According to the CBA official, global processes showed that foreign borrowings were the main indicator of the crisis' acceleration. Thus, the CBA limited its involvement in the banking sector through economic methods. As a result, the share of external borrowings in bank liabilities do not exceed 18 percent.

Amendments to a law on the central bank provided CBA the status of a mega-regulator, which allowed the bank to actively support the banking and real sectors in the crisis, Rustamov said.

"We provided strong support to stabilize companies, such as the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic and Azeraluminium," he said. "These included tax exemption, and a fivefold increase in bank deposit insurance coverage."


/Trend/