Azerbaijan, Baku, 23 May /Trend E.Aliyev/
The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become an important platform improving the efficiency of international organizations in terms of the formation of new strategic approaches to solution of global problems, head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov said on Thursday, speaking at a conference of the WB and IMF parliamentary network held in Baku.
According to him the Government of Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with international financial institutions, in particular with IMF and WB. These institutions have always given Azerbaijan financial and intellectual support in the transition to market economy, economic stabilization and development.
"It's safe to say that significant results have been achieved in this field," Rustamov said.
According to him, since the restoration of independence of the country, a rapid transition to a market economy as well as sustainable development and stability have been provided, poverty level have been reduced.
"Our country has demonstrated a new interesting experience of rational use of natural resources. Under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, the economy has grown more than three times in the last 10 years. The level of income per capita by purchasing power parity reached 10 thousand dollars. It is already 15 years that the country maintains its economic stability. Balanced budget, low external debt, low inflation and high amounts of foreign exchange reserves are the basis of this stability," Rustamov said.
According to him, the ratio of external debt to GDP is only 8 percent. Azerbaijan's external monetary reserves have exceeded 70 percent of GDP.
The problem of poverty characteristic for many countries today has been solved in just one decade, reducing eight times to 6 percent, Rustamov said. The poverty rate in Azerbaijan is almost four times less than the global average of 21 percent.
Azerbaijan is one of the few countries that represent an example of proper distribution of oil revenues. The State Oil Fund was created in order to avoid 'Dutch disease'. Effective management of oil revenues is combined with a significant growth of the economy, Rustamov said, stressing the transparency of the process.
Sustainable development of the country also continued in the years of crisis, thanks to an effective anti-crisis strategy. Thanks to it, Azerbaijan succeeded to protect its economy from the financial crisis of 2008-2010, keeping the inflation at a low level. At the same time,, the economy grew by 20 per cent, Rustamov said.