WB upgrades Azerbaijan's GDP growth forecast
By Aynur Karimova
The World Bank expects a 2 percent growth of Azerbaijan's economy in 2015, a representative of the bank's Baku office told Trend.
“This is a preliminary forecast made on the basis of the recent studies,” the representative said.
Earlier in its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank forecasted 1.5 percent GDP growth in Azerbaijan.
"We have revised our forecast upward because Azerbaijan's economy showed unexpected growth by more than five percent in the first half of 2015," the representative noted.
The total volume of the country's GDP in the first half of 2015 amounted to 26.3 billion manat or by 5.7 percent more than in the same period of last year, according to Azerbaijan's State Statistics Committee.
The non-oil sector of the economy increased by 9.2 percent during the six months compared to the same period of last year and its share in the country’s GDP was 66.9 percent.
The volume of production of value added in the oil and gas production and processing amounted to 33.1 percent of GDP or by 1.3 percent more compared to the same period of last year.
The world’s financial institutions forecast Azerbaijan's economic growth at various levels. The International Monetary Fund expects a 0.6 percent economic growth in the country for 2015.
The Asian Development Bank expects that the GDP growth in Azerbaijan will be at 3 percent in 2015.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development kept the forecast of economic growth in Azerbaijan in 2015-2016 at 1.5 percent.
Fitch Ratings, in turn, expects the real non-oil growth to reach 5 percent in 2015 and overall real GDP growth to reach 2.3 percent.
Azerbaijan joined the World Bank in 1992. The bank's loans to the country have totaled over $3 billion for 55 projects over this period.
Currently, the World Bank investment portfolio in Azerbaijan includes 16 projects with a total commitment of $2 billion.
--
Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz