Azernews.Az

By Trend

Despite the difference in the scale of the Russian and Azerbaijani economies, they are similar, in particular, because the economies of the two countries are slowed down by inflation, Gulnara Khaidarshina, Deputy Head of Gazprombank’s Macro Research and Strategy Department, said.

Khaidarshina made the remarks in Baku at the business seminar entitled ‘Azerbaijan on the Way to the Implementation of Investment Projects: Possibilities of Gazprombank’, Trend reports.

“We have a low debt load and a very strong balance of payments, which is rare today in the entire CIS area,” she added.

“All these similar factors create favorable conditions for high-quality economic growth,” Khaidarshina said. “But, they are not sufficient.”

"However, investments are required for the development of cooperation between countries,” she said. “The share of investments in GDP of Azerbaijan and Russia is very close, so cooperation between our countries may be established on this basis. In 2018, Azerbaijan’s economic growth approached 1.5 percent, while the Russian economy grew by 2.3 percent.”

“Next year, we expect the Azerbaijani economy to outpace the Russian economy in terms of growth rates, through the oil and gas sector as well,” Khaidarshina said. “At the same time, the Azerbaijani economy may increase by three percent, which will allow achieving the goals set out in the roadmap of the Azerbaijani national economy.”

“As for the factors that contribute to the growth of the economies of Azerbaijan and Russia, then, the key drivers of the economies of the two countries are consumption and investments,” she said.

"The monetary policy contributes to the growth of the economies of the two countries, even despite the fact that the central banks of Russia and Azerbaijan are often accused of maintaining high rates, but in general, the conservative monetary policy of the central banks of the two countries led to a slowdown in inflation, which, in particular, ensured macro-stability within the countries,” Khaidarshina said.

“Accordingly, it was possible to maintain investment activity through macro-stability, and in this sense, the policy pursued by the central banks of the two countries is also similar,” she said. “Meanwhile, the economies of Russia and Azerbaijan have ensured safety throughout the CIS. As a result, the two countries have the highest economic stability."