Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The balance of payments posted on the official website of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) shows that Baku has invested $8.8 billion abroad in the first nine months of the current year.

The amount was generated through direct investments ($ 775 million), portfolio investments ($244.7 million) and other investments ($7.74 billion).

Other investments category include trade loans and advances ($4.38 billion), loans and advances ($91.4 million), deposits and cash ($3.27 billion).

The commitments worth $3.7 billion were also formed in Azerbaijan in the mentioned period. Direct investments account for $1.97 billion of the mentioned figure.

CBA also said the counter services held one of the leading positions in Azerbaijan's foreign trade relations in the first three quarters of 2013 totaling $9.3 billion.

According to the balance sheet, services worth $6.2 billion were rendered by non-residents to residents of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani residents in turn rendered services worth $3.1 billion to residents of foreign countries.

Some 14 percent in the balance of counter services fall to transport services. In total, these services were rendered to the amount of $1.3 billion. Around 54.8 percent fall to the use of transport systems of foreign countries by Azerbaijani residents. The cost of transportation services rendered by Azerbaijani residents to non-residents amounted to $587.4 million.

The cost of tourist services rendered to foreigners visiting Azerbaijan also stood at $1.8 billion. Some 37.6 percent of these services are rendered to non-residents visiting Azerbaijan on business trips.

Tourism services rendered to Azerbaijani residents by foreign countries increased by 17 percent to $2.1 billion compared to the first nine months of 2012. Some 62.3 percent of expenditures fell to personal services.

Counter services' share in the total volume of Azerbaijan's export-import transactions with foreign countries amounted to 22.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2013.

During the mentioned time span, Azerbaijan exported around $21.5 billion worth of oil and oil products.

Oil and gas products accounted for 94.7 percent of exported goods.

Around $1.2 billion of the total volume of exported oil products was related to oil processing products. The country exported about $20.3 billion worth of oil.

Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) produced around $19.1 billion worth of the exported oil. Other entrepreneurs also exported around $1.2 billion worth of oil. Some $120.8 million fell to the giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field and over $1.01 million came from Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR.

The total cost of the exported products from the oil sector increased by 13.1 percent in a year and amounted to over $1.26 billion.

In total, the export from Azerbaijan during the reported period amounted to over $23.8 billion compared to $24.6 billion in the same period previous year.