FDI in Azerbaijan reaches $5.8 bln

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Jafarova

The total amount of foreign direct investment made in Azerbaijan's economy amounted to $5.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2014 including 85.3 percent in the oil and gas sector.

This was noted at the balance of payments published by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan on December 11.

CBA said these investments were used to implement major oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan.

The bank also predicted that the volume of direct investments in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector amounted to $855 million, which accounted for 14.7 percent of the total amount of direct investments made in the country in the first three quarters of this year.

The document also noted that Azerbaijan's net financial assets amounted to $7.9 billion in January-September 2014, which was generated through the direct investments made abroad ($1.206 billion), portfolio investments ($156.4 million) and other investments ($6.492 billion).

Around $893.1 million of direct investments were made by Azerbaijan in the oil and gas sector, and $313.6 million in other sectors.

Other investments included trade loans and advances ($3.064 billion), loans and advances ($104.1 million), deposits and cash ($3.324 billion).

Azerbaijan's commitments were made in the amount of $5.972 billion for the first nine months of this year, some $5.817 billion of which accounted for direct investments, and $1.747 billion for portfolio investments.

CBA went on to add that the surplus of the current account totaled $9.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2014, decreasing by 7.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

The surplus of current account of Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector amounted to $15.1 billion in the reporting period.

The total balance of payments surplus made up $5.39 billion, increasing 1.64 times compared to the same period of last year.

The analysis of the balance of payments on sectors showed that, as in previous years, foreign trade operation figures in the oil and gas sector had a positive balance, while in the non-oil sector- a negative balance in January-September 2014.

The total foreign trade turnover volume amounted to $29.7 billion in the first half of 2014, while the foreign trade balance equaled $16.2 billion.

Azerbaijan maintained trade relations with 143 countries during the reporting period. While 7.6 percent of trade turnover accounted for the CIS countries, the other 92.4 percent applied to foreign countries.

Azerbaijan has been involved in intensive trade with Italy, Turkey, Great Britain, Germany, U.S., Indonesia, Russia, Israel, France, and Japan. Some 67.2 percent of export-import operations in Azerbaijan accounted for these countries.