BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 7. Macroeconomic indexes of Azerbaijan have seen improvements in 2021 compared to 2020, Trend reports, referring to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) summary in Asian Development Outlook 2022.
According to ADB, the state budget deficit of Azerbaijan in 2021 has decreased by more than half from 2.3 percent GDP in 2020 to 1.1 percent GDP.
In addition, despite the reduction in transfers from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), which is 43 percent of the income, state budget revenues increased from 2 percent of GDP in 2020 to 7 percent of GDP in 2021.
According to the report, the budget tax revenues of Azerbaijan in 2021 increased by 15.5 percent in connection with the implementation of the non-cash payments program including claims for refunds of value-added tax and tax incentives for entrepreneurs in non-cash payments.
The expenditure share of the GDP of Azerbaijan in nominal terms increased by 3.7 percent compared to 2020. The public debt has dropped from 23.4 percent of GDP in December 2020 to 18.2 percent of GDP in 2021. The strategy is currently aimed to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by up to 10 percent by 2030, the report says.
ADB adds that bank lending in Azerbaijan increased by 17.8 percent in 2021. The bank’s net profit increased by 7.2 percent, while the share of overdue loans decreased from 6.1 percent in 2020 to 4.2 percent in 2021.