Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 16
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The international ratings agency Fitch Ratings expects that the Azerbaijani economy will grow by 0.2 percent in 2017, says the agency’s report on Azerbaijan that was made public at the sixth annual meeting in Baku Mar. 16.
It should be noted that the country’s GDP decreased by 3.8 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, experts forecast the resumption of growth starting from 2017 and its continuation in 2018.
Fitch also expects inflation to fall in the country in the next two years.
“In 2017, the GDP growth in Azerbaijan is expected to be 0.2 percent, and the country’s economy will grow by 1.7 percent in 2018. Moreover, we expect a gradual decline in inflation,” said Fitch experts in the report. “If in 2016 the average annual inflation was 12.4 percent, then in 2017, the growth of consumer prices is expected at the level of nine percent, and in 2018 – at the level of five percent.”
Addressing the meeting, Paul Gamble, a senior director at Fitch, said that the macroeconomic environment in Azerbaijan was primarily affected by the sharp decline in oil prices, reduction of public investments, devaluation of the Azerbaijani manat’s rate and focusing on short-term stabilization.
Touching upon the forecasts on account of current operations in Azerbaijan, Gamble noted that the balance will have a surplus until 2018.
In 2016, the deficit of current account balance accounted for 2.9 percent of GDP, he said.
“We expect that this year the deficit will decrease to 2.4 percent, and the current account balance will have a 5-percent surplus in 2018,” added Gamble.