Azerbaijan among world leaders for reserves to GDP ratio
By Aynur Karimova
Azerbaijan is still among the world leaders for the ratio of strategic foreign exchange reserves to GDP.
The country’s strategic foreign exchange reserves, which amount to $35.85 billion, are enough to cover the import of goods and services for a 26-month period, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) said in its recently issued report.
Last year, the strategic foreign exchange reserves of Azerbaijan exceeded the external debt by 5.2 times. As of January 1, 2016, Azerbaijan's external debt exceeded $6.894 billion, which accounts for 19.8 percent of the country’s GDP, the country's Finance Ministry reported.
"The situation, which Azerbaijan’s economic partners faced in 2015, affected the dynamics of money transfers,” the CBA's report reads. "Money transfers to Azerbaijan stood at $1.183 billion in 2015, according to the preliminary data, while it was $1.7 billion in 2014 and $1.58 billion in 2013."
The growth rate of foreign investments has reached 43.8 percent, according to the CBA report. The country maintained its international rating throughout the year which became one of the factors positively affecting the money transfers.
The State Statistics Committee reported earlier that foreign investments made in Azerbaijan’s fixed capital were equivalent to 7 billion manats (44 percent of the total volume of investments in the fixed capital) in 2015.
The UK, Norway, Turkey, Russia, Iran, the US, Japan, Malaysia and Sweden accounted for the major part of investments made in Azerbaijan’s fixed capital.
Earlier, the CBA said its foreign exchange reserves fell by $618.2 million (12.3 percent) to $4.399 billion in January 2016 compared to December 2015.
CBA’s foreign exchange reserves have declined by $9.36 billion (68 percent) since early 2015. The foreign exchange reserves of the CBA have been declining since July 2014 due to an increase in demand for dollar supply in the country.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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