12:53 - 7.11.2017

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November 7, Fineko/abc.az. Azerbaijan's Finance Minister has stated today about the slowdown in economic recession.

During discussion of Draft State Budget 2018 Minister Samir Sharifov claimed that compared to the 2017 same term, the recession lowered the pace from 3.5% in early 2017 up to 0.6% for the first 9 months of 2017.

"The non-oil sector has shown real growth of 2.5% since the beginning of the year. Trade and balance of payments showed a positive balance. A positive balance of $4.4 bn is observed in external trade turnover due to state financial aid, economical use of foreign exchange reserves, growth of foreign exchange inflows through external commercial relations and other fiscal and monetary measures. For the first 9 months of 2017 the consolidated budget deficit decreased, and a surplus of 1.2% was provided instead of previously-forecasted deficit of 11.3%," the minister said.

He added that the foreign exchange reserves of the public sector increased by more than 10%.