“Supporting sustainable economic growth and maintaining macroeconomic stability will be among the main principles and targets next year and in the medium term.”
Globalinfo.az reports that Finance Minister Sahil Babayev said this.
The minister said other key priorities include improving public welfare, fully financing social measures, strengthening defence capabilities and security, and developing the Karabakh and East Zangezur economic regions:
“Expanding the application of digital technologies and innovation, supporting the development of the education and healthcare sectors, maintaining fiscal discipline, complying with the budget rule and accelerating the development of the real sector have also been identified as key principles of budget policy.”
Sahil Babayev also announced forecasts for key macroeconomic indicators for 2027:
“Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to reach 141 billion manats next year. This represents real growth of 2.7% compared with 2026.
GDP in the non-oil sector is forecast to total 109.1 billion manats, representing real growth of 4.4% compared with the current year.
Over the five-year period covering 2023–2027, non-oil sector GDP will increase by 30.1 billion manats. This represents nominal growth of 38.1% and is an important indicator of the diversification of the economy and revenues.
According to forecasts, the average annual price of a barrel of crude oil next year is set at $65, average annual inflation at 5.3%, and the exchange rate at 1.7 manats per US dollar.”
According to the minister, the ratio of public debt to GDP is forecast at 19.5% at the end of the current year and 20.4% at the end of the medium-term period, in 2030:
“These figures show that the ratio of public debt to GDP will remain stable in the medium term. Azerbaijan is expected to remain among the countries with the best indicators in the world in this area.
Domestic debt accounts for 16.2 billion manats and external debt for 7.7 billion manats of the public debt structure. Thus, domestic debt makes up about 68% of public debt.
Public debt has low sensitivity to exchange rate and external market risks, while the average maturity of bonds has already reached 3.6 years. Seven- and 10-year bonds account for 44% of the portfolio.
He stressed that one of the main targets is to gradually extend the average maturity, thereby ensuring the optimisation of public debt in terms of both market risks and overall liquidity indicators.”
Safura Binnayeva
Globalinfo.az
