Azerbaijan to see lowest inflation rate in Asia Pacific

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan will record the lowest inflation rate in the Asia Pacific and Australasia region, which is predicted to be at 1.4 percent in 2014 and rising to 2 percent in 2015.

This was noted in an analytical material prepared by strategic market research company Euromonitor International.

“Azerbaijan’s strategic geographic location has fuelled the government’s hope to turn Azerbaijan into a transportation hub for the entire Caucasus and Caspian regions. A railway from Baku to the Turkish city of Kars, is under construction, and five new international airports are planned to complement the one already operating in Baku,” Euromonitor International said.

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it forecasts Azerbaijan’s inflation rate at the level of 2.8 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015 while the Azerbaijani government expects consumer price inflation to be 3.5 percent in 2014.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) believes the consumer inflation in Azerbaijan will not exceed 1.6 percent till the end of 2014, and the experts of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts inflation in Azerbaijan for 2014 and 2015 at 4 and 3.5 percent, respectively.

Euromonitor International went on adding that Uzbekistan is forecast to see the highest inflation rate in the abovementioned region, reaching 10 percent in 2014 and 11.2 percent in 2015. A currency depreciation and rising government spending continue to spur price growth in Uzbekistan.

The inflation rate is forecasted for Kazakhstan at the level of 7.1 percent and 6.9 perecent in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

These figures will amount to 5 percent and 5.5 percent in Turkmenistan in 2014 and 2015, respectively.