Johns Hopkins University's Central-Asia and Caucasus Institute hosted a conference “Impact of the global financial crisis on the Central Asian and Caucasus countries.”

The conference was attended by leading specialists of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, US economic analysts, representatives of the diplomatic corps.
Reporters touched on the impact of the global financial crisis on the economic and financial sectors of 8 Central Asia and Caucasus countries. They said Azerbaijan suffered the least from the global economic crisis. According to the specialists, the economic growth rates in Azerbaijan were high in 2007-2008. The World Bank`s doing business program recognized Azerbaijan as a top reformer in 2008.
IMF representative Ratna Sahay said the crisis did not damaged the Azerbaijan economy that much thanks to the right policy. According to her, such countries as Russia and Kazakhstan, which possess much more oil reserves than Azerbaijan can not develop as fast as this country does.
/AzerTAc/