The World Bank (WB) expects significant growth of the Azerbaijani economy in the next three years, according to the bank’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Economic Update report.
Azerbaijan’s GDP will grow by 1.8 percent in 2018, 3.8 percent in 2019 and 3.2 percent in 2020, the report said.
“The growth is expected to accelerate in the medium term, driven by an expansion of natural gas production, as the main pipeline (Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, TANAP) that will deliver gas to Europe from the Shah-Deniz II field will be operational by end-2018,” reads the report.
The WB analysts expect that the oil production volume in Azerbaijan will not be greatly reduced amid the extension of the OPEC + deal until the end of 2018. In addition, the WB expects an increase in oil prices this year and stabilization at a sustainable level in the medium term.
The bank also expects an increase in Azerbaijan’s non-oil GDP in 2018, which is supported by an increase in public investment by 83 percent.
Azerbaijan joined the WB group in 1992.
