Environmental and Social Management Framework (esmf)
Table 1. Protected areas of Azerbaijan Republic14
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- Azerbaijan Economy - overview
Table 1. Protected areas of Azerbaijan Republic14
Socio-economic backgroundAzerbaijan Economy - overview Azerbaijan had a broad and diversified economic base until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nevertheless, a significant part of its industry was dependent on imports from other Soviet republics and the bulk of its exports were specifically produced for consumers inside the USSR. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Karabakh conflict severed Azerbaijan’s economic ties with the other republics. The country’s industrial sector and other sectors of the economy subsequently collapsed, leading to layoffs, massive unemployment and a level of poverty. The presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) further aggravated the economic situation. The exchange rate of the country had weakened because of triple digit inflation from 1992-1994 that led to massive exchange rate depreciation of the Azerbaijani manat (AZN). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also significantly dropped. In 1995, Azerbaijan’s real GDP only totaled 37% of the 1989 level, while the average CIS level comprised 58%. On average, Azerbaijan’s real GDP decreased by 15% per annum from 1992 to 1996. Since 1995, Azerbaijan has made substantial progress towards stabilizing its economy. With greater political stability, the government has launched a program to stabilize the economy and has introduced structural reforms. One of the components of the reforms was a privatization process that occurred in two stages. The first stage included privatization of all small firms and enterprises. This was almost complete by 2000-2001. The government distributed privatization vouchers among the general public and launched voucher auctions in which people were allowed to exchange their vouchers for stocks in plants and factories. Most of the state-owned companies were transformed into open joint stock companies. The shares of state enterprises were sold or distributed through voucher or cash auctions as well as tenders. These and other reforms allowed the Azerbaijani GDP to increase by 1.3% in 1996 while inflation sharply declined from 1,788% in 1994 to 50% in 1995 and to 20% in 1996. Prior to the decline in global oil prices since 2014, Azerbaijan's high economic growth was attributable to rising energy exports and some non-export sectors also featured double-digit growth. Oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline, the Baku-Novorossiysk and the Baku-Supsa Pipelines remain the main economic driver but efforts to boost Azerbaijan's gas production are underway. The expected completion of the geopolitically important Southern Gas Corridor between Azerbaijan and Europe will open up another source of revenue from gas exports. Declining oil prices caused a 3.1% contraction in GDP in 2016, and a 1% decline in 2017, reinforced by a sharp reduction in the construction sector. The economic decline has been accompanied by higher inflation and a weakened banking sector in the aftermath of the two sharp currency devaluations since 2015. Some disadvantages remain in governance in the public and private sector which is a drag on long-term growth, particularly in non-energy sectors. The government has made big efforts to combat these disadvantages, particularly in customs and with the “ASAN” one-stop window concept for government services. Several other obstacles impede Azerbaijan's economic progress, including the need for more foreign investment in the non-energy sector and the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. While trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics remains important, Azerbaijan has expanded trade with Turkey and Europe and is seeking new markets for non-oil/gas exports, mainly from the agricultural sector, for example with Gulf Cooperation Council member countries, the US and others. Long-term prospects depend on world oil prices, Azerbaijan's ability to implement export routes for its growing gas production, and its ability to improve the business environment and diversify the economy. In late 2016, the President approved a strategic roadmap that identified key non-energy segments of the economy for development, such as agriculture, logistics and tourism. Since the presidential election in April 2018, the Government of Azerbaijan has undergone significant changes. These include the nomination of a new prime minister and the appointment of several key ministers in charge of labor and social protection, education, tax reforms, agriculture and rural development, the environment and energy. The new Government has been tasked with continuing the reforms in key sectors to recover economic growth. Supported by stable oil production and a modest acceleration in domestic demand, real GDP expanded by 1.4 percent in 2018. While oil production plateaued, the hydrocarbons sector overall posted growth of 1.1 percent, thanks to higher exports of natural gas. The non-energy economy expanded by 1.8 percent, reflecting greater dynamism in most economic sectors. Consumer price inflation decelerated sharply in 2018, falling to 1.6 percent from 7.9 percent in 2017. Since economic prospects will largely rely on rising gas exports, the projected acceleration in growth in the medium term will be temporary. The country needs reforms to boost private sector investment, reduce the state footprint, tackle issues of competitiveness and develop human capital. The notable increases in the 2019 budget allocations for education (up by 11.3 percent) and health care (up by 41.8 percent) are important in terms of improving human capital. But further efforts are needed to align budget spending with development needs, including through strengthening medium-term budgeting and the public investment management system. It is officially reported that oil-gas sector comprises 55-60% of GDP in 2005-2008. In 2009-2010, the decrease in the share of the oil sector and increase in the share of non-oil sector has been observed. Now more than 4 million people are employed in the state economy. More than 1.560.000 or 38.4% of the employed people work in the agriculture or in the forestry sector, but this field forms 5% of the annual GDP of the country. Both planting (fruit and vegetable production, vine-growing, garden products, technical plants, etc) and animal husbandry fields (diary and beef husbandry, sheep-breeding, poultry, etc) are developing in the country. In recent years, as the number of newly established processing enterprises increase, the number of their employees increases as well: in 2000, 170.000 people were employed in the enterprises of this field, but in 2009, their number nearly reached 200.000, which is 5.0% of the employed people. As the construction works are intensifying across the country, the number of their employees also increases: 5.5% or 225.000 employed people work in this sector and the share of this sector in the GDP varies between 6-8% in recent years. About 1% (40.500 people) of the employed people is employed in the production and distribution of electrical energy, gas and water. Thus, more than 2 million people (nearly half of the employed people) work in various production fields of the state economy.15 The realization of reforms in economy, especially privatization of enterprises and organizations in the state property were the reasons of significant changes in distribution of employment by state and non-state sectors. So, in 2005 if the share of persons employed in the state sector made 30,3% of total number of persons engaged in economy, that in 2018 this indicator was decreased up to 23,7% and the number of persons employed in non-state sector was increased for 1,3 times during this period16 Yüklə 13,37 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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