Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Asian Development Bank has increased its forecast for the GDP growth in Azerbaijan by 0.3 percentage points for 2021.

The bank forecasts the 2.2-percent GDP growth in Azerbaijan for 2021. It should be noted that in its April report, Azerbaijan's GDP growth was predicted to be at 1.9 percent.

"Among hydrocarbon exporters, Azerbaijan grew by 2.1 percent in the first six months of 2021 on gains outside of the hydrocarbon industry and higher net exports. The 2021 growth forecast for Azerbaijan is therefore raised from 1.9 percent in ADO 2021 to 2.2 percent in this update," the report reads.

Moreover, ADB has forecasted the 2.5-percent GDP growth in Azerbaijan’s economy for 2022.

Furthermore, the bank states that Azerbaijan's current account surplus reached 5.6 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2021, and this upward trend is expected to continue with relatively high oil prices.

"The prospect of sharply rising oil export earnings motivates upward revisions to Azerbaijan’s projected current account surpluses from 3.9 percent of GDP to 7 percent in 2021 and from 5.5 percent to 8.1 percent in 2022," the report reads.

Additionally, inflation is forecasted to accelerate to 4.5 percent in 2021 and to 3 percent in 2022.

Azerbaijan has been a member of the Asian Development Bank since 1999. Since then, the bank has committed $4.4 billion in loans, $32.28 million in technical assistance projects, including ADB-administered co-financing for Azerbaijan.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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