CBA: Current account expected to have surplus of 8% of GDP

By the end of this year, Azerbaijan's current account balance is expected to show a surplus of 8% of gross domestic product (GDP), the chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov said during the discussion of next year's state budget envelope at today's plenary session of the parliament, Report informs.

According to him, as a result, strategic foreign exchange reserves increased by 5.4% to $ 53.5 billion in the last period of this year, exceeding the forecast by 113% of GDP: "A balance is observed in the foreign exchange market."

In the first half of 2021, the surplus in the balance of payment (BOP) made up $1,261,300,000 in Azerbaijan, while there was a gap of $957.5 million in the same period of 2020.

The surplus was formed from the gap of $1,878,400,000 in the current account (+3.1-fold from a year earlier), $4.6 million gap in the capital account (+40.3%), $578.5 million gap in the financial account (-39%), and $34 million-gap on net errors and omissions.

The BOP was mainly affected by the price recovery in global commodity markets and the expansion of non-oil export. During the reporting period, the average price of crude oil was $58 a barrel and non-oil export surged 20%.