Azerbaijan's economy far from risk with current oil prices - Central Bank
Azerbaijan's economy is quite far from the risk zone with the current oil prices nearing $59 per barrel, Elman Rustamov, head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) said in an interview with AzTV channel.
"With $40 per barrel, Azerbaijan's trade balance will be deficit-free, therefore this level is not threatening for us either," said Rustamov.
He added that the country's balance of payments is expected to have surplus with the current average oil prices.
Meanwhile, CBA head believes that under the current conditions, it is not right to give forecasts about oil prices, since there are very unpredictable factors in the world economy.
"On the other hand, it is unknown how our trade partners will behave in the future," said Rustamov. "All of them have their own problems in the economic development."
He added that however, the observed trend shows that the negative processes in the currency markets have stopped.
"It is very good that we are a part of the international economy," said the CBA head. "We sell our oil and gas resources by ourselves and this has brought us to our current level of socio-economic and infrastructure development."
"We easily trade with all countries and these countries also easily trade with us," he said.
World economy is based on the relationship between supply and demand, according to Rustamov. "We compete with our trade partners and this competition has its sides. One of these sides is the value of national currency."
Furthermore, he said that serious changes are expected in Azerbaijan's import structure within the correction of the exchange rate of Azerbaijani manat by the Central Bank. [exchange rate of US dollar rose by almost 34 percent on Feb.21].
"We see growth in the export of products of the non-oil sector and we cover the domestic demand with our own products. That's to say, the competitiveness of our products grows," said Rustamov.
CBA head added that under these conditions, Azerbaijan's foreign trade balance will be well-balanced by late 2015.