Azerbaijan , Baku, July 13 / Trend /
Social and economic problems facing the country have been solved in the first half of 2011 , Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the socio-economic development in the first half of 2011, Azerbaijani President's official website reported.
"Overall economic growth was not so high. GDP grew by only 0.9 percent," he said. President Aliyev attributed low GDP growth in comparison with previous years to the fall in oil production.
However, Aliyev said it is gratifying that the non-oil sector grew in Azerbaijan. The growth hit 7.2 percent.
President Aliyev underscored that an impressive growth rate was achieved in agriculture - 6.2 percent. This is a good indicator. Population's income has increased by 17 percent. But inflation ratio rose by only 8.8 percent. This justifies for good conditions were created for peoples' well-being.
"The country's strategic currency reserves are increasing. Our reserves have increased by $ 9 billion since early 2011. This is an excellent indicator. We purposefully spend the revenues on the spheres that are necessary for the economic development and at the same time we increase the reserves. Today, Azerbaijan's strategic foreign currency reserves hit $38 billion. This is a very high figure, and I'm sure that it will grow by late 2011. This allows us to ensure the development of the country's economy and attract additional financial resources to solve social problems of people. In short, to achieve comprehensive development of the country's economy," he added.
President Aliyev noted implementation of the state program on socio-economic development of regions has created 38,000 new jobs over the past six months. "This process is underway. Generally, about 1 million new jobs have opened in recent years," he said.