MP: Azerbaijan's economy more than tripled over past 20 years

Azerbaijan's economy has grown more than 3 times in the past 20 years, and investments in the banking sector have played an important role in this growth.

Chairman of Milli Majlis Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, and Entrepreneurship Tahir Mirkishili made the statement at the committee meeting, Report informs.

"Currently, 24 banks are operating in Azerbaijan, with assets of about 45 billion manats ($26 billion). Loan investments by banks in Azerbaijan's economy are about 20 million manats ($11.7 million), 18 per cent of GDP. Last year non-cash transactions in Azerbaijan also increased 1.9 times. Only in April, non-cash transactions amounted to 3.2 million manats ($1.8 million), 80 per cent of which are of e-commerce," Mirkishili added.

The volume of card transactions within the country by the end of 2022 was $33 billion, an increase of 56 per cent, including a 2.1-fold growth of non-cash transactions via bank cards.

Most of the non-cash transactions with payment cards came from e-commerce, which increased by 261 million transactions, 2.4 times. At the beginning of this year, about 85 per cent of the country's banks already provided services through mobile applications, and just under four-fifths of customers' digital transactions are done through e-banking. Transactions via mobile banking have also tripled.

"This year, the Central Bank, together with international organisations, plans to start preparing a new strategy aimed at enhancing the digital transformation of the CBA and the entire financial sector," CBA chairman Taleh Kazimov said earlier this year.