Quarterly surplus of balance of payments in Azerbaijan's declines 88-fold

Baku. 18 December. REPORT.AZ/ The surplus of balance of payments of Azerbaijan in quarterly terms decreased by 88-fold and amounted to $ 11 million in the third quarter 2017 (Q3). 

Analytical Group of Report News Agency informs, referring to the data of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), in January-September, a surplus of the balance of payments was in the amount of $ 1,442 million. So, surplus in the first quarter was $ 464 million, in the second quarter $ 967 million, in the third quarter it was only $ 11 million.

Analysts say that in the third quarter, balance of the current operations in Azerbaijan amounted to 276.7 million dollars, which is 31.7% less than in the second quarter. Thus, the balance of trade in the third quarter amounted to 922.6 million dollars. This is 41.9% lower than in the second quarter. Notably, in the first quarter, Azerbaijan's balance of foreign trade amounted to $ 1.890 million, in the second quarter $ 1,589 million.

Substantial growth in exports of goods was not recorded. Export in the third quarter amounted to $ 3,680.5 million, which is 3.5% more in quarterly terms.

In the third quarter, there is a significant increase in imports of goods. Thus, imports of goods in the third quarter increased by 40.2% compared to the second quarter, making $ 2 757.8 million. The volume of imports in the first quarter amounted to $ 1,666 million. Notably, imports in the third quarter reached a peak after the fourth quarter of 2014.

Analytical Group says that the rise in oil prices led to the stabilization of the manat rate and as a result, to an increase in imports: "But if oil prices start falling, there will be a need to reduce the cost of manat, otherwise the balance of payments surplus may go into deficit”.