Azernews.Az

Head of the World Bank office in Baku Gregori Yedzherchak has said he was surprised with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on economic growth in Azerbaijan published by the local media.
He was commenting on the Fund`s assessment of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the country. The media had reported that according to the IMF, the growth will be reversed since 2012. The GDP production will decline 1.7% that year and 2.6% in 2013, the reports said.
Yedzherchak said he had contacted IMF representatives after reading the reports and the Fund said they had been distorted by Azerbaijani media.
"The IMF predicted a reduction in GDP growth rate in Azerbaijan. But our report did not say that the growth will be reversed by a decline," it said.
Yedzherchak said a slowdown of economic growth in the coming years was natural in a country which has been posting 25-30 per cent growth in the past few years, as preserving this growth rate for many years is virtually impossible.