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Nadeem Ilahi: â€œIMF welcomes anti-corruption campaign in Azerbaijanâ€

15 February 2011 15:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. Today, a press conference on the results of visit of IMF mission on Azerbaijan was held in Baku.

According to head of the IMF mission on Azerbaijan Nadeem Ilahi, IMF representatives have held several meetings with senior government officials: â€œWe met with senior government officials and representatives of the private sector, civil society and the diplomatic communityâ€.

â€œThe Azerbaijani economy continues to recover from the global economic crisis. Non-oil economic growth was strong in 2010, largely spurred by high public investment spending, though inflation rose rapidly in 2010, driven largely by rising global food prices. There are increasing signs of inflation expectations becoming entrenchedâ€, said Ilahi.

â€œProspects for 2011 are also promising, but rising inflation, expected to reach 10 percent by end-2011, pose macroeconomic challenges. The main challenge for policymakers would be to contain inflation expectations, while fiscal policy would also need to contain demand pressures.â€

â€œThe sharp rise in global food prices warrants additional, well-targeted social transfers to the poor, who tend to bear a heavy burden of rising inflation.The authoritiesâ€™ recent campaign to target monopoly practices and public sector corruption is welcome, and needs to be pursued in a comprehensive manner to remove economic distortions and public sector inefficiencies.â€