Azerbaijan enjoys long-term fruitful cooperation with IMF
By Fatma Babayeva
Azerbaijan and the International Monetary Fund kicked off the next phase of consultations on the IMF's creation agreement as the IMF mission visiting Baku.
President Ilham Aliyev received Head of the IMF mission to Azerbaijan Muhammad al Gorchi on May 20, who said that Azerbaijan and IMF have enjoyed a long-term fruitful cooperation.
Saying this cooperation covers various formats, the head of state noted that the partnership has already entered a new phase.
The head of state expressed his confidence that the activities of the mission led by Mohamed El Gorchi would strengthen the country’s relations with this organization and contribute to continuing substantial reforms.
The president noted that the dramatic fall in global oil prices naturally led to decrease in the revenues. However, measures taken in the country such as consolidation of the budget and reforms to diversify economy helped to eliminate serious risks.
The head of state said he hoped that cooperation between Azerbaijan and the IMF would successfully continue.
El Gorchi highly appreciated the measures taken by the Azerbaijani government to eliminate the complications caused by the global economic crisis.
The IMF’s head said that devaluation of the manat and other measures protected national production in Azerbaijan, and boosted exports in non-oil sector.
He described the steps taken by the Azerbaijani government as brave and successful.
El Gorchi stressed the importance of focusing on the banking sector in the current circumstances, noting that the IMF was ready to conduct exchange of views with related institutions in Azerbaijan, render technical assistance to the country and participate in the relevant consultations.
As a part of the visit, El Gorchi met Azerbaijan's Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, where the parties discussed the country's macroeconomic and fiscal position, the situation in the banking sector, and exchanged views on the parameters of the state budget, and the Azerbaijani government's steps to neutralize the negative effects of external shocks on the country's economy.
The IMF mission also plans to hold meetings with Azerbaijan's major state economic agencies.
The last visit of the IMF mission to Azerbaijan was in late January-early February 2016.
IMF's office has operated in Baku since 1992.
IMF allocated loans worth $577.3 million to Azerbaijan for supporting the country's economic reform program during 1995-2005.
Azerbaijan has fully repaid the loans.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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