Azerbaijan economy to hit record $76.5 billion this year – president

BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s GDP will reach a record 130 billion manat ($76.5 billion) by the end of 2022, President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday.

Fuelled by high energy prices, Azerbaijan’s oil and gas-rich economy grew by 5.2% in the first 10 months of the year, the country’s statistics committee said last week.

“Our economy has grown more than 3-fold since 2003. The forecast for the end of the year shows that nominal GDP will be 130 billion manat. This is a record,” Aliyev said on Monday at an event marking thirty years since the country’s ruling party was founded.

Aliyev also said the country’s external debt to GDP was low at 10%, with foreign exchange reserves eight times higher.

($1 = 1.7 manat)

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)