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AZERBAIJAN TOPS GLOBAL GROWTH - EBRD
AssA-Irada, November 14, 2006
Azerbaijan remains one of the world's fastest-growing economies, with the figure to make up 26% in 2006, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said.
The rampant economic development is due to the expansion of the country's oil sector with the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline this year, said the EBRD's Transition Report 2006 on regional states issued on Monday.
The report said that domestic consumption drives growth in Eastern Europe. The region's economies are expected to grow at 6.2% in 2006.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Mongolia grew fastest at 6.6% in 2005. Countries such as Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, which do not have significant energy resources, are seeing robust private consumption, rapid credit growth and strong remittance flows.
In Russia, growth is estimated to have reached 6.4% in 2005, with a projected 6.5% in 2006.
Reforms in ex-Soviet republics in the past year have been concentrated in the wealthier countries of the region, especially Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, the bank said.
In central Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, low interest rates and financial service innovations such as mortgage lending promoted strong domestic demand and export growth that saw the region grow by 4.7%.
Despite strong economic growth across the region, the report warns of impending risks and challenges. For example, households' increased access to finance is driving domestic demand that, combined with higher energy prices, is raising inflationary pressure across many countries.
Erik Berglof, Chief Economist at the EBRD, says economies across the region are growing strongly, and are catching up with Western Europe, "but there is no room for complacency".
Economic growth across countries from Central Europe to Central Asia is being driven increasingly by domestic consumption, especially as countries become more prosperous and people seek a higher standard of living, the EBRD said.
In south-eastern Europe, a revival of some industries, such as the metals sector, expanding exports, and strong domestic demand, fuelled by credit growth, contributed to growth of 4.7% in 2005. The strongest growth was seen in Serbia at 6.3%.
As for the development of finance, the EBRD said that the striking transformation of the financial sector is the focus of this year's report, based on an in-depth survey of banks and financial institutions.
It said that since the collapse of Communism, the sector has moved from a state-controlled system to one in which a wide number of financial institutions offer a diverse range of finance to large businesses, households, retail clients and small and medium-sized enterprises.
ENHANCING ACCESS TO FINANCE FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES
EBRD LENDS TO PROMOTE ENERGY SECTOR REFORM IN AZERBAIJAN
EBRD EXPANDS MICROFINANCE IN AZERBAIJAN
EBRD TRANSITION REPORT 2006: DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION DRIVES GROWTH IN EASTERN EUROPE
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December 2006,
Issue No. 44
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AZERBAIJANI ANSWER TO OIL GLUT: BATHE IN IT
International Herald Tribune, November 28, 2006
NAFTALAN, Azerbaijan: Outside this improbable spa in a remote part of the former Soviet Union, oil rigs bob on a hardscrabble plain of rocks, shrubs and rusting industrial equipment that could easily pass for a stretch of West Texas.
Inside, Ramil Mutukhov, a lanky 25- year-old, prepares to be pampered and preened, scrubbed and peeled in a bath of pure crude oil. He undresses, hangs his trousers and sweatshirt on a peg, pulls off socks and underwear and folds up a wad of brown paper towels. He will need those later.
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