BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19. A surplus of $1.1 billion was formed in the current account balance in Azerbaijan in the first quarter of 2025, Director of the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Samir Nasirov said at a briefing on the presentation of the balance of payments for the first quarter of this year, Trend reports.
He noted that a surplus of $2.4 billion was formed in the foreign trade balance during this period.
"In the reporting period, our exports of goods amounted to $6.2 billion, and imports of goods—$3.8 billion.
The surplus formed in the foreign trade balance and the balance of secondary incomes fully covered the deficits in the balance of primary incomes and services.
During the period, a surplus of $106 million was formed in the balance of recurrent incomes. The formation of the surplus of the balance of recurrent income during this period was mainly related to funds entering the country from abroad in the form of money orders through money transfer systems," the bank official explained.
Nasirov pointed out that during the period, the Azerbaijani economy received $229.5 billion as money orders from abroad.
"The balance of services is in deficit. The main factor determining the deficit, as always, is related to the oil and gas, construction, and other sectors. Our primary income balance is relatively in deficit. The factor forming the deficit, as always, is related to foreign direct investments," he mentioned.
Nasirov emphasized that another component of the balance of payments, the balance of capital and financial flows, has a deficit of $1.2 billion.
"This is mainly due to the increase in the country's foreign financial assets. That is, the country's net foreign financial assets increased by approximately $1.2 billion during this period. Net financial liabilities decreased by $45 million during this period," the official pointed out.
According to Nasirov, during this period, $1.5 billion in foreign direct investment was invested in the Azerbaijani economy.
"The deficit formed in portfolio investments was due to the funds invested in foreign securities by enterprises and organizations operating in the country, banks.
The country's realized reserve assets reached $413 million in operations. Here, our revaluation and exchange rate difference were taken into account in the balance of payments. But in general, our country's strategic currency assets amounted to $73.5 billion, which will increase by $2.5 billion in the first quarter of this year.
During this period, the realized average price of Azerbaijani oil was $74, and the exported thousand cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas was $320," Nasirov added.
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