Volume of industrial products and services in Baku exceed $15.6bn

By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

Baku is the industrial center of Azerbaijan, the country that has been developing its economy due to series of reforms and foreign investment.

The volume of industrial products and services in Baku amounted to 26.4 billion manats ($15.6 billion) during January-August 2019, Trend reported on September 26.

Some 80.5 percent of the industrial products were manufactured in the mining industry, 17.5 percent - in the processing sector, 1.4 percent - in the electrical production and production of gas and steam, 0.6 percent – in water supply, waste management and recycling sectors.

The share of private sector in the industry was 83.6 percent during the reporting period. Industrial production amounted to 89.1 percent of the overall production, whereas the share of the services was 10.9 percent. Most of the manufactured products were sold to consumers. As of September 1, 2019, there were finished products worth 226.2 million manats in the warehouses of industrial enterprises, including the reserves accumulated over the previous period.

The products worth 64.5 million manats that were purchased from other enterprises and were intended for a sale were also stored in the warehouses of industrial enterprises.

Note that the industrial production in Azerbaijan increased by 1.5 percent in 2018. The share of industry in Azerbaijan’s GDP in 2015 was 32.9 percent, in 2016 - 37.1 percent, in 2017 - 40.1 percent, and in 2018 - 44.2 percent.

Increasing industrial production in the country is one of the main goals to strengthen the non-oil economy in Azerbaijan.

The State Program for the Development of Industry in Azerbaijan for 2015-2020, the successful industrialization policy, activities of industrial parks and districts are yielding positive results in this direction.

At present, there are 5 industrial parks in Azerbaijan - Sumgayit, Garadagh, Mingachevir, Pirallahi and Balakhani, as well as 3 industrial districts - Neftchala, Masalli and Hajigabul. In addition, work is underway to launch the Sabirabad industrial zone.

The state program envisages modernizing the industry and enhancing its structure, rising export possibilities of the non-oil sector and expanding competitive industrial goods, as well as training highly-qualified staff for new spheres.

The results expected from the state program include transformation of the non-oil industry into the main driver of the economic growth as a result of its modernization and diversification, increase in the share of regions in industrial production, increase in the number of enterprises applying technological innovations, widening of the use of international standards in the industry, etc.

The state program is funded from the state budget, extra budgetary funds, funds of the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support and the resources of the Azerbaijan Investment Company. There are also additional minor sources of support provided by local budgets, private investments, foreign direct investments and financial and technical assistance of the international and foreign organizations.