Azerbaijan’s real investment growth to be 5.5% in 2017 – S&P
Azerbaijan’s real investment growth will be 5.5 percent in 2017, according to the forecast of analysts of the Standard & Poor’s international ratings agency.
“We project investment will begin to recover this year owing to the ongoing work on the Southern Gas Corridor project, which is intended to bring Azerbaijani gas from the offshore Shah Deniz Stage II gas field (SDII) in the Caspian first to Turkey at the end of 2018 and eventually to Europe by 2020,” said S&P analysts.
According to the agency’s report, Azerbaijan’s real investment growth will be 3.5 percent in 2018 and 2.5 percent – both in 2019 and in 2020.
The report says that the volume of investments will account for 25.4 percent (or 17.5 billion manats) of Azerbaijan’s GDP in 2017, 25.1 percent (or 18.8 billion manats) – in 2018, 24.3 percent (19.9 billion manats) – in 2019, and 23.7 percent (almost 21.1 billion manats) – in 2020.
EBRD to decide on allocating $500M loan to TANAP in October
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will make a decision on allocating up to $500 million loan for the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on October 18, said the data on EBRD’s website.
The funds will be allocated to Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor Closed Joint Stock Company (borrower).
The project’s total cost is estimated at $8.6 billion.
Along with the EBRD, a number of other international financial institutions will support the project.
The World Bank has committed $800 million financing for TANAP and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has committed $600 million. The European Investment Bank is also considering financing for the TANAP project.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.