Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar.18
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The total amount of assets of the Central Bank and the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan exceeds 60 percent of the country's GDP, which creates the so-called safety cushion that makes it possible to overcome the turbulence in the region, EBRD chief economist Dmitry Gvindadze told Trend March 17 while taking part in the work of the Azerbaijan Investment Forum.
"Due to the fall in oil prices and the political situation [Ukrainian conflict], the state in the region is rather complicated," he said. "Geopolitical risks have increased, which affects many countries, including Azerbaijan."
He said that the EBRD expects positive economic growth at 1.5 percent of GDP in Azerbaijan. He went on to add that zero growth is expected in many countries of the region.
"The fiscal and financial buffers of Azerbaijan are much stronger than in many countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus," he said.
Gvindadze said that the economy of small countries of the region are closely linked with that of Russia, and given the fact that the bank expects negative growth in Russia around 4.7 percent, it will affect the countries that depend on money transfers from Russia.
The EBRD has allocated $ 2.5 billion to finance 146 projects in various sectors of the economy since the beginning of cooperation with Azerbaijan. One of the EBRD's main tasks is to ensure the stable development of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector by investing in small and medium private enterprises.
Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of the EBRD funds in the Caucasus, as well as one of the largest - in the CIS and Eastern Europe.
The EBRD invested 238 million euros in the implementation of 21 projects in Azerbaijan in 2014.
For comparison, the EBRD allocated 163 million euros for the implementation of 17 projects in the country in 2013.
Edited by CN
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