Azeri official cites remarkable growth in 2007

High indicators were achieved in Azerbaijan’s economic and social development in 2007, the State Statistics Committee chairman Arif Valiyev says.

He told a press conference on the outcomes of the year on Wednesday that the Gross Domestic Product, a key macro-economic figure indicating the country’s growth, increased 25% to reach 25.2 billion manats ($30 billion). Most of the GDP – 59.2% - was made up by the industries, while smaller percentages – by other fields such as agriculture and forestry. The construction sector accounted for 7.1% of the figure, while 5.8% was made up by the trade and services sectors, 4.2 by transport, 1.9% communications, 8.3% other services and the social sector, and 7.3% net taxes on imports and exports.

According to preliminary estimates, the private sector accounted for 84% of the GDP.

The GDP grew 36.8% in the oil sector and 11.3% in other sectors of the national economy.

As for the country’s industrial growth, it made up 24% last year. Goods worth 20.2 billion manats ($24 billion) were produced in this field. 21.8% of the overall volume was made up by refining industries, or 7.5% over 2006.

77.4% of industrial output was made up by the private sector, a 32.6% increase from the previous year.*