BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 3. Azerbaijan's foreign exchange reserves have surpassed international sufficiency standards, Trend reports, citing the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).
According to the bank’s data, trade conditions remained favorable for the first nine months of the year, and the external trade balance, a key component of the country's balance of payments, led to a positive balance. Azerbaijan continues to be an attractive destination for investments, the bank noted.
"According to the State Customs Committee, the country's foreign trade turnover for the first nine months of this year amounted to $34.5 billion, with $19.9 billion (or 57.6 percent) coming from exports and $14.6 billion (or 42.4 percent) from imports. A positive balance of $5.2 billion was formed in the external trade balance.
The European Union accounted for 38.6 percent of the foreign trade turnover, followed by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at 14.2 percent and other countries at 47.2 percent. More than half of the trade turnover came from countries such as Italy, Türkiye, Russia, China, Germany, the United States, Australia, India, the Czech Republic, and Croatia.
The value of exports in the oil and gas sector for the period amounted to $17.4 billion, of which $11.3 billion was crude oil and other petroleum products, while $6.1 billion came from natural gas. Exports in the non-oil and gas sector increased by 1.3 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $2.5 billion.
Among the non-oil and gas exports, the main products were vegetables and fruits, plastics and products made from them, chemical industry products, aluminum and aluminum products, cotton fiber, electricity, ferrous metals, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, cement, sugar, cotton yarn, oils, and tea," the report said.