BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 23
By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:
The ongoing economic reforms in Azerbaijan and further diversification of economy may lead to an increase in the country's credit rating to "Baa3" investment grade, Seymur Ibadov, head of the research and investment consulting department of Unicapital OJSC, told Trend on April 23.
"The recent decision of Moody's international rating agency about confirmation of Azerbaijan's rating at "Ba2-positive" gives reason to think that the country's expenses will be reduced even if additional debts are raised," head of the department added.
"This circumstance also shows that Azerbaijan’s sovereign rating can also be increased at the next stages," Ibadov said.
Moody's justified this action by the fact that a positive outlook may improve the sustainability of the country's credit profile through improving the governance and, in particular, political effectiveness.
Thus, the improvement of monetary and macroeconomic policies will lead to stability during the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the external and banking sectors.
The head of the department said that along with the country's rating, the credit rating of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR and five leading banks of Azerbaijan also changed.
"Thus, the ratings of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, Kapital Bank, Xalq Bank, Bank Respublika and Bank of Baku were raised to "positive"," Ibadov said. "Raising the forecast to a "positive" level increases the likelihood of raising the rating at the further stages."
Earlier, Moody’s said that real GDP growth in Azerbaijan in 2021 will reach 3.5 percent and it will be supported by the mitigation of restrictions related to the coronavirus, as well as an increase in oil and gas production.
On average, the Azerbaijani economy will increase by about three percent during the next 2-3 years.
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