Non-oil sector sees 10-pct growth
By Aynur Karimova
Non-oil sector of Azerbaijan's economy recorded a 9.6-percent growth in January to October 2015, while the oil sector decreased by 0.6 percent compared to the same period of last year.
The total volume of industrial production (the volume of produced goods and rendered industrial services) amounted to 22 billion manats in the first ten months of 2015, or by 2.2 percent more than the same period of 2014, according to the State Statistics Committee.
In this period, the volume of production in the mining industry hit 13.8 billion manats with a weight of 62.9 percent of the entire industrial production, which is 1.7 percent more compared to the first 10 months of 2014.
The volume of oil production amounted to 35 million metric tons (decreased by 2 percent), while natural gas production stood at 24.55 million cubic meters (decreased by 2.7 percent).
The production volume in the processing industry amounted to 6.4 billion manats (29.2 percent of total industrial output) in January-October 2015 or by 8.4 percent more than in January-October 2014.
The highest growth was observed in the production of jewelry, music, sports and medical equipment - by 2.2 times, repair and installation of equipment – by 2.1 times, computer, electronic and optical products – by 98.6 percent, and the chemical industry - by 87 percent.
Production, distribution and supply of electricity, gas and steam increased by 1.6 percent compared to January-October 2014, but water supply, treatment and recycling of waste – by 2.5 percent in January-October 2015.
The development of the non-oil sector is one of the main priorities standing before the Azerbaijani government. In this regard, the government of the energy-rich South Caucasian nation has been taking significant measures, which has shown a growth between 10 to 15 percent over the last 2-3 years.
Today, Azerbaijan is actively developing the non-oil sector of the national economy, thanks to its growing economy backed by energy wealth, internal stability, and a Western-oriented policy. In this regard, the main slogan of the government is "to change oil capital into human capital".
Relevant programs were adopted at the state level on the development of the non-oil sector, covering mainly the agriculture, industry, and IT sectors.
2015 was declared the Year of Agriculture in Azerbaijan with the expectation of involving state financial resources in this sector and promoting the country's agrarian potential.
The Azerbaijani government predicts the share of non-oil sector in Azerbaijan's GDP to be at 65.1 percent for 2015, which is 5.5 percent higher than the forecasts for 2014 and 8.5 percent higher than in 2013.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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