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Azerbaijan far outperforms Armenia in terms of GDP and state budget â€“ IN FIGURES

Azerbaijan far outperforms Armenia in terms of GDP and state budget â€“ <font color=red>IN FIGURES</font>

21 April 2009 14:42 (UTC +04:00)

According to statistics, 1 000 top corporate taxpayers paid AMD 445.9 billion to the state budget. The top taxpayer, K-Telecom, paid AMD 30.8 billion, followed by ArmRosqazprom (AMD 17.9 billion), ArmenTel (AMD 15.1 billion), Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (AMD 14.4 billion and Alex-Grig (AMD 12.5 billion).

Average monthly salary, a benchmark to weigh the population purchasing power, reached AMD 91 000 (approx. $298), up 17.4% on a year ago.

Besides, employees earned AMD 64 800 (+18.6%) in budgetary organizations and AMD 113 900 (+16.3%) in non-budgetary organizations.

According to figures released, unemployment stood at 6.3%, down 0.7% percentage points from 2007.

Armenian State Employment Service counted 90 200 jobseekers and 74 700 people registered as jobless.

According to the National Statistical Service, the countryâ€™s economically active population was 1 194 600 and average unemployment benefit was AMD 14 280 ($46.8).

Armenian Central Bank predicts 1.5%- 3.5% economic growth in the first half and 4.5%-7.5% growth in 2009.

The Government of Armenia has passed a decision on the redistribution of the 2009 state budget and suspension of the elaboration of the medium-term expenditure program for 2010-2012.

The Ministry of Finance evaluated risk level or non-execution of the budget revenues at AMD 131.6 billion. This is the part of the state budget incomes that cannot be fulfilled and hence is deferred to the fourth quarter of 2009.

The countryâ€™s 2009 state budget blueprint foresees revenue of AMD 905 billion ($2.4 billion) and expenditure of AMD 945 billion ($2.52 billion).

The main challenge of the economy is the central bankâ€™s decision to free-float exchange rate after selling about $360 million to manage the dram in 2008.
The decision to devalue was based on the experiences of central banks in other countries and is aimed at helping the â€œstrugglingâ€ economy.

As a result, Armenia devalued its currency by 23 percent against the dollar and reached 375 from 305 drams per dollar during the first quarter.

Because imports account for about 87% of the foreign trade turnover, devaluation is feared to increase prices of imports by at least 23% (equal to devaluation).
Besides, the countryâ€™s underdeveloped export capacity left it vulnerable to the global financial crisis.

For comparison, Azerbaijan posted GDP at AZN 38 005.7 million ($47.5 billion) for 2008, up 10.8% on a year ago.

Average salary amounted to AZN 268 or $331 in Azerbaijan. Besides, the country reported 44 400 jobless people or unemployment at 1.2%.

Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan posted foreign trade surplus, a positive balance of trade, ie exports exceed imports.

For example, Armeniaâ€™s foreign trade turnover was $254.2 million in January 2009, broken down as $220.1 million worth of imports and $34.2 million worth of exports.

For January, Azerbaijan reported its foreign trade turnover at $1 200.3 million, including $518.8 million for imports and $681.5 million for exports.

According to year-on-year comparison, Azerbaijan saw a 4% rise in imports and a 9% increase in exports while Armenia suffered a 20% drop in imports and a 44% fall in exports.

With regard to the state budget, Azerbaijanâ€™s 2009 state budget foresees revenue of AZN 12 177 million ($15.2 billion) and expenditure of AZN 12.355 million ($15.4 billion).

Finally, Azerbaijanâ€™s national currency (manat) is one of the worldâ€™s most stable currencies.

As mentioned above that Armenian dram dropped 23% against the US dollar during the first quarter, Azerbaijani manat went down $0.19%.