Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

2018 will go down in history as the year of economic development for Azerbaijan.

Vusal Gasimli, executive director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication made the remarks at a press conference dedicated to the results of 2017.

Gasimli went on to say that as a result of economic reforms, held in the country in 2017, the crisis is over, and the economy has entered a new cycle of development.

“On one hand, anti-crisis measures were carried out in 2017, and on the other hand, reforms continued to create a new economic model. The decline in GDP in Azerbaijan was observed only in 2016, and the dynamics of GDP growth recovered in 2017, and opportunities were created for new economic growth in 2018,” added the executive director.

Further, he stressed that agricultural production in Azerbaijan will grow by 4 percent until the end of 2017, adding that this is a very good and important indicator, considering the policy of diversifying Azerbaijan’s economy and ensuring the country’s food security.

“Special measures were taken to develop agriculture in 2017. On the one hand, much has been done to improve the infrastructure, and on the other hand, state development programs, cotton growing, tobacco growing, and silkworm breeding were adopted, all of which led to an increase in agricultural production in 2017” , said Gasimli.

Production of agricultural products in the country increased by 4.2 percent in January-November 2017compared to the same period last year, according to the State Statistics Committee.

Export of national goods

Speaking of Azexport.az state portal, Executive Director pointed out that it received export orders worth $500 million in 2017, specifying that more accurate data will be available in a few days.

“Cotton, knitwear, chicken eggs, poultry meat and other products were exported via the Azexport portal in 2017. Moreover, entrepreneurs can plan their production in advance for the next year, based on the already received orders,” noted the executive director.

The export promotion portal of Azerbaijan - azexport.az received orders on non-oil products worth $444.6 million from 71 countries during the eleven months of 2017.

During 11 months non-oil products worth $498 million were exported to Russia, $264 million to Turkey, $133 million-to Switzerland, $120 million-to Georgia and $52 million to Italy.

Azexport.az was created in accordance with the order "On creation of a unified database of goods produced in Azerbaijan Republic", signed on 21 September 2016 by President Ilham Aliyev.

Mission of Azexport.az, managed by the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication is to provide information about products of Azerbaijani origin and becoming the beneficial platform for their sales in foreign and domestic markets.

Implementation of Strategic Road Maps

Touching upon the Strategic Road Maps, Gasimli stressed that the performance indicators of the measures reflected in Road Maps will be quite high in Azerbaijan by the end of 2017.

Gasimli noted that the results of monitoring for the second half of 2017 will be presented to the public in February-March 2018, but the high results can already been expected.

“Monitoring of the implementation of measures reflected in strategic road maps is carried out every six months. In 2017, we have already presented its results for the first half of the year,” said Gasimli.

He added that the monitoring of results of this year will begin in 2018.

“However, I should note that my observations make it possible to declare that there is high performance percentage,” he explained.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree in late 2016 endorsing “Strategic Road Maps for the National Economy and Main Economic Sectors”, which outlined the short-, medium- and long-term goals for the development of the economy and eleven key sectors.

The document comprises consolidated measures aimed at minimization of negative impacts of the global economic slowdown. It will allow create a new development model basing on short-term (until 2020), medium-term (until 2025) and long-term measures (post 2025) to be implemented in different spheres of economy.

The strategic road maps up to 2025 and beyond cover almost all sectors of the economy, including, development of the oil and gas industry, the manufacture and processing of agricultural products, the manufacture of small and medium entrepreneurship-level consumer goods, development of heavy industry and machinery, tourism, logistics and trade, vocational education and training, financial services, communication and information technologies and utilities.

What about banking sector?

Answering the questions of reporters, Gasimli stated that Azerbaijan’s financial and banking sector will show positive dynamics in 2018.

He said that the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan’s financial and banking sector in 2017 conditioned its gradual recovery.

“The sector’s recovery is mainly expected at the expense of activity of the Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund, which should lead to facilitation in lending,” Gasimli said. “This will also make it possible to ensure mobilization of financial resources and channel them to lending to the country’s economy.”

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on December 26 amending the Decree on Establishment of the Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund OJSC, dated October 27, 2015.

In accordance with the decree, the Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund OJSC and the Credit Guarantee Fund merged.

Thus, the newly established Azerbaijan Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund is a legal successor of the Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund OJSC and the Credit Guarantee Fund, and all their rights and responsibilities, as well as property are transferred to the Azerbaijan Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund.

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