(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.28. High energy prices
are expected to support Azerbaijan's economic growth in the near
term, Trend reports via the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD).
“Hence, GDP growth of 4.5 percent is forecast in 2022, with a
moderation to 2.5 percent in 2023. The risks are balanced and
largely arise from the direction of energy prices and, to a smaller
degree, from the likely inflation path. The strong performance of
the non-energy sector led to economic growth of 6.2 percent
year-on-year in the first seven months of 2022,” reads the
September edition of the Regional Economic Prospects report.
EBRD says that the nonenergy sector increased production by 9.9
percent, while hydrocarbon sectors decreased by 0.4 percent, with
oil production down 4.5 percent, though gas production increased by
15.3 percent.
“However, rising prices of hydrocarbons almost doubled export
revenues and generated a large current account and budget surplus.
This created a favorable environment to sustain household real
incomes, despite rising inflation, which in turn supported the
strong growth of nontradable sectors of the economy.
Inflation accelerated further from 12.0 per cent at the end of
2021 to 14.2 percent in June 2022, but slowed down to 13.7 percent
in July as a first sign of abating inflationary pressures. The
Central Bank of Azerbaijan responded firmly to rising inflation in
the initial stage and raised the policy rate by 150 basis points
between September 2021 and March 2022, but remained cautious
afterwards,” the report says.
---
Follow the author on Twitter:
MENAFN28092022000187011040ID1104936412
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.