The Economy Ministry said the value of Azerbaijan's non-oil exports reached a historic high last year.
Yeniavaz.com reports that the institution published information about this in its Telegram channel.
It is reported that in 2023, non-oil products worth $3 billion 348 million were exported from Azerbaijan, which is 9.8% more than in 2022.
Economist expert Allahverdi Aydin does not fully agree with the information released by the Ministry of Economy.
He told Yeniavaz.com that the growth of non-oil exports is directly related to the oil and gas sector:
“Over the 11 months of last year, Azerbaijan exported products worth $3 billion 34 million. This represents an increase of 12.8% compared to the same period in 2022. However, if you look at the structure of exported products, you can clearly see that the main reason for the increase is the increase in electricity exports. If we do not take into account the share of electricity in exports, it is known that in the first 11 months of last year, products worth $2 billion 625 million were exported abroad. For 11 months of 2022, this figure amounted to $2 billion 623 million. As a result, practically no growth was recorded compared to the same period in 2022 (only 0.07%)”.
Allahverdi Aydin
The expert economist says that in value terms, electricity exports in the first 11 months of last year increased 6 times compared to the first 11 months of 2022:
“As can be seen from the published official statistics, the growth was entirely due to the export of electricity. In the first 11 months of 2023, Azerbaijan produced 24.1 billion kWh of commercial electricity. Thermal power plants accounted for 93% of the electricity produced. Electricity is produced using natural gas in thermal power plants. In other words, electricity exported abroad as a non-oil product is produced entirely using natural gas”.
Allahverdi Aydin believes that “inflating” export figures by including electricity obtained from natural gas in the group of non-oil goods, in fact, hides the real export figures in the non-oil sector.
Elnur Ali
