(MENAFN- Trend News Agency ) Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan's GDP is projected to rise by 2 percent in 2018, according to the Transition Report of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The completion of landmark gas infrastructure projects (Shah Deniz stage 2, Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ) is expected to provide impetus to growth from 2018 onwards, with GDP projected to rise by 2 percent next year, said the report.
This is while, EBRD expects the country's GDP to drop by 0.5 percent in 2017.
"A slight GDP downturn of 0.5 percent is likely in Azerbaijan in 2017 as a whole as tight monetary and fiscal policies, necessary to safeguard macroeconomic stability and preserve liquidity buffers, weigh on the near-term growth outlook," said the report.
EBRD forecasts for 2018 are higher than that of Azerbaijani government. The government expects the country's real GDP growth in 2018 at 1.5 percent. Azerbaijani government forecasts the country's economic growth at 0.3 percent in 2017.
EBRD has been cooperating with Azerbaijan since 1992. During this period, the bank has invested around $2.8 billion in the country's economy.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction natural gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers, with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.
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