Finance

Finance

Azerbaijan posts a drop in foreign debt

04 May 2009 13:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. As of April 1, Azerbaijanâ€™s external debt, the money owed to creditors outside the country, stood at $2 9167.8 million, down 2.8% or AZN 84.3 million on early this year.

The Ministry of Finance said per capita foreign debt dropped to $333.2 from $344.9 during the first quarter.

At the same time, the foreign debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio dropped to 5.3 from 6.4%.

The ministry said the government-secured loans for economic reforms ($70.2million from IMF and $255.6 million from the World Bank) totaled $325 million, loans for investment projects made AZN 2 591.2 million (88.8% of the loans in total), including 38.9% for electricity generation sector, 7.8% for rural development and melioration, 23.3% for roads and infrastructure etc.

The countryâ€™s foreign debt grew by 22.9% during 2008 to AZN 3 001.1 million as at January 1, 2009.