BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 17. Last week it became known the delegation of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will take part in the annual meetings of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Trend reported on October 13 via Twitter publication of the board chairman of CBA Taleh Kazimov.
Moreover, IMF expects an increase in the current account surplus of the balance of payments of Azerbaijan. According to the report, Azerbaijan’s current account balance is expected at 31.7 percent of the GDP in 2022. This index is 2023 is forecast at 31.4 percent of the GDP.
In addition, the IMF has updated the forecast for GDP growth in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's GDP growth is expected at 3.7 percent in 2022, 2.5 percent in 2023, and is also projected at 2.5 percent in 2027. According to the IMF, the average annual inflation rate in Azerbaijan in 2023 is expected to slow down to 9 percent.
S&P Global Rating expects that Azerbaijan's GDP growth from 2023 to 2025 will average about 1.5 percent. The agency noted that the banking industry of Azerbaijan shows signs of recovery after a long correction supported by favorable commodity prices, stimulating active demand for credit along with significant improvement in asset quality.
Moreover, last week S&P Global Rating announced that the Azerbaijani banking sector has shown better resilience to macroeconomic challenges over the recent years, with credit costs and nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the system remaining significantly below earlier expectations.
According to the agency's report, credit losses in 2022-2023 likely will remain within 0.5-1 percent of average loan books, which is still well below their historical cyclical level.
Furthermore, last week aim of the 'green' finance concept in Azerbaijan was revealed.
Thus, the aim of the 'green' finance concept is to increase the level of financial inflows from the public, private and non-commercial sectors into the implementation of priorities of sustainable development, in such sectors as banking, microcredit, insurance and investments.