AZERBAIJAN OFF-THE-GHART GROWTH

摘要

Emerging markets in recent years are often described as "booming" or "burgeoning," but when your country is the fastest-growing economy in the world and increased GDP by 34 percent in 2006, you start running out of superlatives. Mikail Jabbarov, Deputy Minister for Economic Development and head of the Azerbaijani Investment Company, held himself to the modest description of "phenomenal growth" at the Azerbaijani country session during the May annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), before going on to list a set of numbers that defy gravity. Most of the growth is largely due to this small Caucasian country's huge hydrocarbon reserves. Azerbaijan is strategically placed between the Black Sea and the oil-rich Caspian Sea, which holds the world's third-largest oil deposits, after the Middle East and Russia. "Azerbaijan's economy put in 34 percent growth last year to bring GDP to $20.1 billion, mainly due to energy," says Jabbarov.