Azernews.Az

80 percent of businesses in Azerbaijan have been hit by the world economic crisis that caused a reduction in sales and trading, local researchers estimated.
A study conducted by the Economic Research Center (ERC) in about 250 companies revealed that 47.54 percent of the companies said they were affected by the recession in 2008 and 52.46 percent in 2009.
Gubad Ibadoglu, the head of the center, said the crisis has mainly caused a reduction in sales, jobs, banking transactions and investments.
The analyst believes that the decrease in Azerbaijan’s GDP growth rate to 9.3% in 2009 was due to the economic slowdown as well.
"All this resulted in executing both the revenue and expense articles of the 2009 state budget with a 15% shortfall, while the foreign trade turnover decreased 2.5 times."
The center concluded that dwindling demand overseas and falling prices have led to the reduction in the exports of domestic goods. Aluminum experts dropped ten-fold, while that of chemicals three-fold and that of ferrous metals halved. Also, exports of fruits and vegetables decreased 10% due to the crisis.
Nonetheless, the government’s measures aimed at keeping the currency exchange rate stable have reduced the impact of external factors on the domestic economy.
The Central Bank admits that the global crisis has affected the Azerbaijani economy. Its representatives say the recession has mainly led to the reduction in companies’ sales and restricted trade transactions.
Elman Rustamov, chairman of the Central Bank steering board, has lately said the world financial crisis "is not over yet, and it has an impact on Azerbaijan as well."*