Baku, Azerbaijan, June 6
By Emin Aliyev - Trend:
The International Monetary Fund predicts surplus decline in the current account balance of Azerbaijan by 9.9 percent of the country's GDP by 2015, the IMF website reported.
The figure was 19.7 percent of GDP in 2013, the fund expects its decline by 15 percent of GDP by the end of the year, the report said.
In accordance with the balance of payments, published by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, as of 2013, the current account balance amounted to $12.3 billion, decreasing by 17.22 percent compared to the same period the year before. Current account surplus of the Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector amounted to $22.1 billion for the reported period.
Herewith, the document said that the surplus of the current operation account of the oil and gas sector is fully covered by the deficit of current account operation of the non-oil sector by $9.8 billion.
The IMF also predicts a slowdown in the pace of the national economy - from five percent as of 2014 to 4.6 percent in late 2015.
Azerbaijan's GDP amounted to 18.2 billion manats at nominal growth of 3.96 per cent per annum in January-April, according to the State Statistics Committee.
Under the concept of socio-economic development of Azerbaijan, prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Industry, real GDP growth is expected to reach 5.2 percent in 2014. In 2015, GDP is projected at 59.4 billion manats (a growth of 5.8 percent).
The official exchange rate on June 6 is 0.7843 AZN / USD.
Edited by CN