Azerbaijan’s public debt stands at a comparatively low level among the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA), said Thanos Arvanitis, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, APA reports.
He noted that many CCA countries are pursuing fiscal consolidation, which is crucial for keeping debt burdens at sustainable levels. “In fact, we've seen that debt burdens are relatively low in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. They're about 30% to 40% of GDP for most countries in the region, and Armenia is a little more elevated. But overall, the fiscal stances remain manageable in the region.,” he said.
Regarding the external sector, Arvanitis stated that it has played a strong role in supporting economic growth in recent years: “And we continue to see in 2024 that exports continue to grow, although the pace of growth on exports slowed down in most countries from the year before. But overall, exports, remittances, and financial flows remain strong and supportive of economic. And we continue to see that in the CCA countries.”
He also emphasized that the growth momentum has continued into early 2025, providing a solid outlook for the year. However, he warned that rising global uncertainty — increasingly felt since early 2025 — driven by trade tensions among major economies, may pose risks to growth. “And I think this, on the one side, the momentum coming into 2025 from last year, but also the headwinds from the global uncertainty, provides the setting for us to think about the prospects, but also the priorities, policy priorities,” Arvanitis concluded.
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