According to the forecasts of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), GDP growth at the end of 2023 will be around 1.8-2%, CBA Chairman Taleh Kazimov said at the meeting of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising, Report informs.
"The growth rate of non-oil GDP will reach 5.7%. In April, GDP in the country increased by 0.1%, non-oil GDP by 3.7%.
"We are concerned about inflation. In April, the level of inflation was 12.8%. The main thing here is the increase in food prices. According to April forecasts, annual inflation will be 8.3% at the end of the year. The inflation forecast for January was 7.9%," Kazimov said.
According to him, the foreign exchange reserves of the country dropped by 12% to $66 billion and the reserves of the CBA increased by 2.2% to $9.2 billion in April of this year.
Kazimov noted that the loan portfolio of the financial sector has reached $20 billion, and the deposit base has increased by more than 5%: "The quality of the loan portfolio fell to 3.7% in April, its dollarization level dropped to a historical minimum, i.e. to 9.9%. The dollarization level of the deposit portfolio of the individuals was 37%."
He added that there was an increase in fees and payments of the insurance sector - insurance fees by 30%, payments by 33%.
"Corporate bonds and stocks increased by 8% and government securities by 15.6%. In general, 96% of the financial sector belongs to banks. We are actively working with banks for both the quality of assets and the potential requirements of the CBA, and we observe the stability of the financial sector in numbers and the activities of banks," the chairman noted.
