Azerbaijan’s currency reserves exceed $50B

Real economic growth in Azerbaijan made up 2.1% in January-October 2019, Report informs citing Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).

According to the CBA, the real economic growth was 3.6% in non-oil sector, which is mainly sourced by the commercial sector. Non-oil industry grew by 15.7%, agriculture by 7.3%.

As a result of social fiscal stimulus, the nominal income of the population increased by 6.9%, which significantly exceeds the annual inflation.

According to the results of the monitoring of the real sector, the business confidence index, compared to the previous month, demonstrated growth in non-oil industry, trade and construction in November, comparative stability in service sector (seasonal factor).

Favorable international conjuncture and increase of export potential of the non-oil sector allows large amount of surplus in foreign trade balance to be preserved. Oil prices have been tending to go up for a month. The average price of Brent crude in eleven months made up $64.1. Though being lower than the average price for 2018 ($72), it provides a significant surplus of the trade balance. According to the initial figures, exports increased by 2.3% in the reporting period, non-oil export – by 17.5%, non-oil import, excluding monetary gold imports, rose by 9%.

Strategic currency reserves ascended by 12.7% or AZN 5.7 billion to AZN 50.4 billion.