“The non-oil sector growth in Azerbaijan made over 15% within 9 months of this year”, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the meeting with the Cabinet ministers on October 16.  “Our non-oil industry’s growth by over 15% can be considered a record indicator on a global scale”, the head of state noted.

Meanwhile, an agricultural development is identified as a priority area.  At present, significant progress is seen in this industry. The growth in agriculture made over 7% within 9 months. 

The external public debt is on a very low level and makes just 17% of GDP. Azerbaijan is ranked the 9^th in the world in terms of this indicator, the President said.

An inflation rate is very low, a little over 2%. It is noteworthy that a very serious and large social package has been introduced this year.  Financial standing of more than 4 million 200 thousand people was improved. Pensions, salaries and allowances were increased. That is to say, billions of manats were spent for these purposes. All these funds had a social orientation. In Doing Business report the country comes 25^th in the world on business environment indicator. Azerbaijan was once again among top 20 reformist countries in the latest report. The Davos world economic forum has recently published a new report which once again shows that reforms ongoing in Azerbaijan have been consistent, the President emphasized.

In this way, Azerbaijan holds the 18^th place in the world in fight against the organized crime. In terms of people’s trust in police agencies, Azerbaijan occupies the 30^th place. In terms of property rights protection, the country holds the 37^th position. In terms of the leadership’s commitment to changes, that is to say to reforms, Azerbaijan comes 5^th. In terms of infrastructure and road infrastructure it takes the 31^st and 27^th positions respectively. We used to hold the 34^th position in the latest report, while in the current one we are the 27^th and the first in CIS. In terms of the level of railway development and performance of transportation services, the country occupies the 34^th and 12^th positions respectively. We are the second in the world in terms of electricity availability. Construction of that many power plants, substations and electricity transmission lines in recent years led the country to the second place in the world.

Azerbaijan takes the 19^th place in terms of digital capability of the occupied population. We are the 8^th from the standpoint of business starting. These figures certainly reflect the reality as the Davos world economic forum is one of the leading international financial structures of the world and a very reputable forum.

Full speech is available at president.az