Page 132 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE PUBLIC INVESTMENTS IN AZERBAIJAN: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

During 1994-2010 the Azerbaijani government signed

approximately 142 loan agreements in total amount of 8.92 mlrd. USD for
realization of different project; 73 projects have been already realized,

while the rest is under the progress. On January 1, 2011 total amount of
utilized loans was equal to 4.67 mlrd. USD, which accounts for 52.3% of

total obtained loans. Taken loan were basically directed to reconstruction

and development of the infrastructure and other social realms. Thus total
amount of loans obtained for these purposes was equal to 8,563.4 mln

USD as of January 1, 2011 and it was equal to 96% of total loans obtained
by the government; total amount of loan utilized as of indicated date was

equal to 4,310.9 mlrd. USD (The report on the Cabinet’s activity during

2010; 2011: 367). At the same time the volume of government debt is still
relatively small. The volumes of foreign debt of the Azerbaijan Republic

are presented in the table below:
Table 6. Foreign debt of Azerbaijan Republic (mln. AZN)

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Foreign 1,328. 1,270. 1,356. 1,575. 1,588. 1,650. 1,972. 2,441. 3,001. 3,422. 3,860.
governement debt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Foreign debt to
GDP ratio, % 25.2 22.0 23.0 20.5 18.7 13.0 9.9 8.33 6.4 7.95 7.5

As we can see from the table above, volume of public debt

increased by 2,9 times during the period from 2000 till 2010. At the
same time its portion to Gross Domestic Product decreased by 3.4 times.

This index is quite favorable for macroeconomic stability and economic
development as well as for attraction of foreign investments. Thus at the

end of 2010 total internal and external debt of Azerbaijani government
was equal to 8.2% of GDP. This index is one of the smallest in the

world. For example, in such developed counties like Norway and

Luxemburg this index is equal to 49.5% and 33.9% respectively. Such

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