Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The monetary-credit and tax-budget policies pursued in Azerbaijan allow successful containment of inflation at a low level, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said on September 2 in a speech on local television.

"As an example, one can mention a historic decree on lump-sum payments to depositors of the Savings Bank of the former Soviet Union, which was signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in 2012," he said. "Many CIS countries have carried out similar measures, then suspended them, revised and launched them again. Most of the citizens received compensation over seven months of 2012. To date, around 1.62 million depositors have received compensation worth 597 million manats. Around 555 million manats of this amount were paid out over seven months of 2012."

Though the country is implementing a significant social package now, inflation remains low, the minister said.

The consumer price growth was at 1.2 percent in 2012. The annual inflation rate was 2.1 percent in August 2013.

"This testifies to the fact that inflation does not absorb the real incomes of the population," Sharifov added. "This is one of the major achievements of the social and economic policy carried out in Azerbaijan under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev."

The minister said considerable qualitative and quantitative changes have taken place in Azerbaijan over the last 10 years.

"Wheras earlier, according to the classification of the world's leading financial institutions such as the World Bank, Azerbaijan was referred to the category of poor countries, now it is in the group of middle-income countries. This is sensed in the daily life of the citizens and in the statistics," he stressed.

The official exchange rate on September 3 was 0.7844 AZN (manats) per USD.

The latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund said inflation in Azerbaijan is expected at 3.4 percent in 2013. The figure is lower by 3.4 percent than those forecast for the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1 percent less than that in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and by 2.5 percent overall compared to the projected inflation rate in developing economies.

According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) estimates, by late 2013 inflation will remain within the framework stipulated in the main directions of the monetary policy and financial stability.

In 2012, the country's inflation rate stood at 1.1 percent.