PM: Azerbaijan's foreign exchange reserves reach $62.5 billion in 2022

Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov has said that Azerbaijan's foreign exchange reserves reached $62.5 billion in 2022 and increased by $5.3 billion (by 9.3 per cent) over the year.

Asadov made the remarks while discussing the government's report for 2022 in the parliament on March 17, Interfax reports.

The prime minister noted that Azerbaijan's foreign exchange reserves exceed the country's external debt by eight times.

Asadov added that the country's external debt decreased to $6.7 billion, or by 9.5 per cent, and amounts to 8.5 per cent of GDP in 2022.

The prime minister added that the nominal volume of Azerbaijan's GDP amounted to 133.8 billion manats ($78.7 billion), real growth - by 4.6 per cent in 2022.

He noted that Azerbaijan has achieved economic growth indicators despite the difficult geopolitical situation in the world and economic changes in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Asadov said that consumer prices in Azerbaijan increased due to imported inflation. Inflation has recently become a big problem worldwide.

“The inflation rate has increased in the countries that are our trading partners, the average annual inflation was 20.4 per cent. This process influenced the increase in the general prices in the country as well,” the prime minister noted.

Asadov noted that the average annual inflation was 13.9 per cent in Azerbaijan in 2022.

“In particular, food prices have had a major impact on domestic food inflation through imports. The annual price index for imported products increased by more than 22 per cent. Inflation is mainly imported in Azerbaijan,” he added.