Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan's foreign debt equals 8.2 percent of the country's GDP, Finance Ministry said on February 28.

The country's foreign debt amounts to 4.7 billion mantas, it added.

"The country is ahead of some developed and developing countries, according to this indicator," the report said. "The ratio is 36 percent for Turkey, - 14.1 percent for Russia, - 32.9 percent for Georgia, - 79.8 percent for Hungary, - 34.3 percent for Slovakia, - 40.2 percent for Czech Republic. Some 8.1 percent of the total borrowings were attracted for up to 10 years, 43.6 percent - for a period from 10 to 20 years, and 48.3 percent - for a period exceeding 20 years."

Azerbaijan's foreign debt rose by 6.2 percent during the past year.

As of January 1, the currency structure of loans received by the foreign debt is as follows: 11.7 percent of funds were involved in the SDR (Special Drawing Rights of the IMF), 47.1 percent - in U.S. dollars, 28.8 percent - in Euro, 9.5 percent - in Japanese yen, 2.9 percent - in other currencies, including the UAE dirham, the Islamic dinar, Saudi riyal, Kuwaiti dinar and Swiss francs.

"The funds are mainly drawn from the World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financial institutions, were designed to support economic reform programs, rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure, including construction and rehabilitation of power plants, roads, improvement of water supply of regions, development of services in the field of aviation and railways, as well as in industry and energy," the statement reads.

Azerbaijan's real GDP increased to 57 billion manats and it growth rate reached 5.8 percent, while the GDP growth rate in the non-oil sector was 9.8 percent in 2013, Azerbaijan's Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said earlier.