Handmade miracle: Outcomes of Aliyev's shrewd economic policy

(MENAFN- AzerNews)

There have not been, are not, and will not be in the history of the world, states that have not encountered difficulties of various kinds, ranging from wars in which they are involved to internal Political and economic cataclysms. In this regard, this year is an extremely difficult one for the world community as a whole. The world had not yet recovered from the problems it faced because of the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in the heart of Europe.

In one way or another, the whole world became involved in it. The world economy is such that any military conflict, especially between such large countries as Russia and Ukraine, affects the entire planet. And here the only question is which states will be most ready, adapted to the new challenges. This, in turn, depends on the ability of the leadership of this or that country to foresee and prevent, if possible, the negative consequences of global negative trends in this country.

In this regard, the statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the meeting devoted to the results of the first quarter of this year are extremely important. The head of state said that Azerbaijan's GDP increased by 6.8 percent. This is indeed a great achievement in the current, extremely difficult conditions, at a time when even the economies of the world's leading powers are facing problems.

See for yourself. The Council of Economic Experts under the German government has significantly lowered its economic forecast for the current year due to the events in Ukraine. The experts suggest that the gross domestic product of Germany in 2022 will grow only by 1.8 percent. In November 2021, they expected growth of 4.6 percent. And this is a significant correction of the economic indicators of the leading European country.

Let's go further. According to the analysis conducted by the World Trade Organization, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may reduce global economic growth this year by 1.3 percentage points. The study was published on April 12, ahead of the presentation of the WTO's annual forecast for global trade growth.

As it follows from the model calculations, the global gross domestic product in 2022 will grow only by 3.1 - 3.7 percent. The reasons, the organization pointed out, would be rising food and energy prices, as well as a decline in exports from Russia and Ukraine.

'Poor countries will be most at risk because they spend more of their income on food than richer countries. This could have implications for political stability,' the report said.

Speaking about Azerbaijan, of course, the country's economy has been and will be influenced by all those political and economic processes that are taking place in the world. But, in this regard, the more valuable are the merits of the Azerbaijani leadership, which, even in such difficult conditions of global instability, manages to demonstrate high indicators of economic development.

What is particularly important, is the development of the non-oil sector. President Ilham Aliyev stated that the country's non-oil economy has grown by more than 10 percent. The growth of non-oil production has exceeded 18 percent. The economy is diversifying, and the country's dependence on the oil and gas sector is decreasing, both its share in GDP and its share in exports.

It is worth emphasizing all this because for many years foreign and local experts of various levels have stated the assertion that the oil sector is the reason for the rapid economic growth in Azerbaijan. They have all been proven wrong. Azerbaijan, while maintaining its status as a proven, reliable producer and exporter of 'black gold' has also secured its place as a state that plays a critical role in providing natural gas to Europe.

In addition, in general, there is industrial growth, the food security of the state, and its ability to provide itself with everything it needs is strengthening. This is what is needed today and tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, another important point is that Azerbaijan's external public debt has shrunk.

'If we compare it to April of last year, then our external public debt was 18 percent of GDP, and now it is only 12.5 percent. We managed to reduce our external debt by more than $600 million in one year,' President Ilham Aliyev said.

Moreover, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov added that the work continues to bring Azerbaijan's external debt to GDP ratio to 10 percent. At a time when the world's leading powers have a three-digit external debt to GDP ratio, it is an incredible success. This is an indicator of the care of the Azerbaijani leadership and the president for the future generations of the country. They will not have the burden of enormous debts hanging over them.

This is something that none of the states of the former Soviet Union can boast of. And Azerbaijan also spends huge amounts of money to restore the liberated territories, and build airports and roads. How, given such huge expenditures and such an incredibly unfavorable global political and economic situation, it is possible to reduce the foreign debt and show enviable rates of economic growth? The answer to this question is known only to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, under whose leadership truly incredible successes are achieved.

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