Azerbaijan, Baku, August 13/ Trend I. Khalilova /
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided to withdraw the head of Azerbaijani permanent representation office of the Fund and in general to reduce the staff of the office in the country, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan said on August 13.
"The Baku office of the IMF will be managed by its regional representation for Central Asia and Caucasus, the location of which has not been determined yet, the Central Bank said. - While the process of reducing the representation in Azerbaijan will take place in stages."
This process will begin in September - October, and probably will end in March - April 2010, depending on the length of the contractual obligations of the employees of the representation, the same source said. The current representation is composed of eight people.
This decision of the IMF was announced during the recent Baku visit of the head of the department for Central Asia and Middle East, David Owen, who met with the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Head of the Central Bank.
"The decision to reduce the costs for the Azerbaijani representation of the IMF is explained through the fact that Azerbaijan does not need credit resources of the Fund, since there is huge black ink in the country's payment balance, the Central Bank said. - Therefore, the Monetary Fund intends to redirect the savings to those countries which now receive IMF loans in large amounts."
Koba Gvenetadze, the current head of the IMF Baku office, took up his post on 14 January 2009.
Permanent representation of the IMF in Azerbaijan has been functioning since 1993, but the co-operation with the government started in 1992. The Fund started crediting the country in 1995. Up to now, IMF provided credits to Azerbaijan within six programs, but since 2005, the co-operation with the IMF has been continuing at the level of consultations because the government of Azerbaijan refused to obtain credits from the Fund.
The Central Bank does not exclude the possibility of continuation of the IMF technical assistance programs in the future, although their amount also declined over recent period. Due to the continuation of technical cooperation, the Fund intends to conduct annual assessment of medium-and long-term outlook upon the article IV of Agreement on establishment of IMF.
By 2013, Azerbaijan will continue to repay loans borrowed from the Fund. In 2009, re-payments to the IMF will amount to SDR 10.29 million, including SDR 10.05 million on main debt and SDR 0.24 million percent. In 2010, the payment will be SDR 9.83 million (including SDR 9.66 million and SDR 0.18 million) respectively, in 2011 - SDR 11.06 million (SDR10.94 million and SDR 0.12 million), in 2012 - SDR 8.6 million (SDR 8.53 million and SDR 0.07 million), while in 2013 - SDR 6.47 million (SDR 6.44 million and SDR 0.03 million).
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