WB: Azerbaijan's economy to grow 3% in 2 years

“The World Bank forecasts a 3-percent growth of the Azerbaijani economy in two years,” Hans Timmer, WB chief economist for Europe and Central Asia, told reporters in Baku Nov. 22 during a video conference from Bucharest, Romania.

In 2016, the decrease in Azerbaijan’s economic growth is expected at the level of three percent, he said. Therefore, given the WB’s expectations for 2016 and the next two years, there will be zero economic growth in Azerbaijan during this period, he added.

These forecasts reflect the impact of the global economic crisis and a sharp drop in oil prices, since Azerbaijan lost about 25 percent of its national income because of the slump, Timmer noted.

Referring to the inflation rate in Azerbaijan, Timmer said that according to the WB’s expectations, there will be double-digit inflation in Azerbaijan in late 2016.

At the same time, Timmer noted that in the next two years, the situation in Azerbaijan won’t be so worrying, as the double-digit inflation was due to higher prices for imported products, and the balancing process is currently underway.

Azerbaijan’s GDP volume in January-October 2016 amounted to almost 49.2 billion manats, which is 3.7 percent less than in the first ten months of 2015, according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.

During the ten months of 2016, the prices for consumer goods and tariffs for services in Azerbaijan increased by 11.6 percent compared to the same period of 2015. Prices for food products rose by 13.4 percent, prices for non-food products rose by 16.3 percent, and the cost of paid services increased by 5.4 percent. (Trend.az)