EBRD forecasts Azerbaijan's inflation rate at 1.6 percent
By Aynur Jafarova
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has forecasted Azerbaijan's inflation rate at 1.6 percent in 2014.
This is one of the lowest rates among the CIS countries, the bank's report said on September 18.
The Azerbaijani government forecasts that the inflation in the current year to reach 3.5 percent.
The annual inflation rate in the country was 1.4 percent within the first eight months of 2014, according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that Azerbaijan's inflation rate would be 3.5 percent in 2014 and 4 percent in 2015.
In 2013, the inflation rate in Azerbaijan stood at 2.4 percent.
EBRD went on to say that the growth rate of GDP in Azerbaijan is predicted at 3 percent in 2014.
"The slowdown in economic growth is due to a temporary decrease in the volume of oil production in the country, which led to a decrease in the GDP forecast to 3 percent in 2014-2015," EBRD noted.
EBRD believes another reason behind the decline of the forecast of GDP growth in several Eastern Europe and the Caucasus countries is the Ukrainian-Russian crisis.
Azerbaijan's economy has grown more than three times during the last ten years. This is the fastest economic growth rate in the world. The real GDP growth in Azerbaijan amounted to 5.8 percent in 2013. The country's GDP in 2013 increased up to 57 billion manats.
Azerbaijan's Social-Economic Development Concept, developed by Economy and Industry Ministry, said the real GDP growth in the country will be equal to 5.2 percent. This figure is predicted to reach 59.4 billion manats in 2015.
The World Bank forecasts Azerbaijan's economic growth to stand at 5.2 percent in 2014, and 4.1 percent in 2015.
The official exchange rate on September 18 was 0.7844 AZN/USD.