BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 30. Russian Gazprombank expects inflation in Azerbaijan to equal eight percent in 2023, Deputy Head of Research, Chief CIS economist at Gazprombank Gulnara Khaidarshina told Trend.
According to the bank's forecast, in 2024 this figure is expected to decrease to seven percent.
Khaidarshina noted that the peak of inflation in Azerbaijan has already been passed, and by the end of the year it's expected to slow down further.
"In April this year, inflation continued to decline and amounted to 12.8 percent compared to the same period last year, which means a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared to the peak level reached in September 2022," she said.
"The Central Bank of Azerbaijan noted that the external inflationary pressures continue to ease, and also pointed out a decline in world food prices. According to the UN, in April this year, the growth rate of food prices slowed to 0.8 percent compared to March, which is a decrease of 1.3 percentage points," Gazprombank's representative said.
Besides, Khaidarshina noted that inflationary risks remain due to the expansion of aggregate demand driven by fiscal stimulus.
"The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has reaffirmed its inflation forecast for the end of the year, which was presented in early February, and expects inflation to slow down to eight percent year-on-year," she added.
According to the forecast of the World Bank, the average annual inflation in Azerbaijan is expected to be 8.5 percent in 2023 and 6.2 percent in 2024.
In 2022, the inflation rate in Azerbaijan made up 13.9 percent.
