According to the State Statistics Committee, in January-July this year, Azerbaijan produced gross domestic product (GDP) worth 47.26 billion manat, which is 2.7% more than in the same period last year.
According to the report, added value in the oil and gas sector of the economy over the past year decreased by 3.1%, while in the non-oil and gas sector it increased by 5.3%.
According to experts, a 2.7 percent increase in GDP was formed at the expense of funds from crude oil, which accounts for 90 percent of Azerbaijan's exports. In the same period last year, in connection with the pandemic in the world and in Azerbaijan, a strict quarantine regime was applied. Thus, the price of oil on the world market fell to $ 15-20. Due to this decline, the level of GDP in Azerbaijan fell sharply at that time, and the country's economy ended the year with a loss of 5 percent.
However, the easing of the strict quarantine regime late last year and early this year led to a revival of the global economy, which, in turn, led to a rise in crude oil prices on world markets. Following the results of 7 months of this year, the average price of Azerbaijani oil in the world market amounted to 62 dollars. Last year, that figure was about $ 41. Currently, Azerbaijani oil is traded in the world market at a price of $ 70.17.
By comparison, although crude oil accounts for over 30 percent of GDP, the figure is 10.3 percent in trade and 6.5 percent in agriculture.
Summing up all this, we note that the GDP growth of 2.7 percent in Azerbaijan occurred only due to the rise in crude oil prices.
The lowest price for Azeri LT CIF was recorded on April 21, 2020 (USD 15.81).

Akif Nasirli