Baku, Azerbaijan, April 18
Trend:
Azerbaijan’s success in the economic sphere is a historic achievement, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.
He made the remarks at the presidential inauguration ceremony April 18 in Baku.
“Over the past 15 years, we have carried out economic reforms and paid special attention to economic issues, because, as I have repeatedly said and life has shown this as well, only economically strong countries can pursue independent policy,” Ilham Aliyev said.
“If a country depends on a loan or another state, it can never pursue an independent policy. So we tried to achieve economic independence and succeeded. Now we don’t depend on any loan, we issue loans ourselves. Our government debt is 20 percent of GDP. I have set the task - in the coming years, we must bring our government debt to an even lower level,” he said.
President Ilham Aliyev noted that over the last 15 years, Azerbaijan’s economy has grown 3.2 times.
“This is a very big indicator,” he said. “Of course, the oil factor plays a special role. However, along with this, our non-oil exports have increased more than four times over the past 15 years. This shows that our reforms have a big effect. Industrial production grew 2.6 times. Azerbaijan’s foreign exchange reserves grew 24 times and now make up $44 billion. More than $230 billion have been invested in our country. Azerbaijan has an excellent investment climate,” he noted.
“Our country will continue receiving foreign and domestic investments,” Ilham Aliyev said. “The Davos World Economic Forum ranked Azerbaijan #35th in terms of global competitiveness. Azerbaijan was ranked third in terms of inclusive development among the developing countries. All these indicators clearly show that Azerbaijan’s success in the economic sphere is a historic achievement.”