Azerbaijan hopes to recover from oil price fall with minimal losses - Aliyev
BAKU. Oct 25 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hopes that the drastic fall of world oil prices will have a minimal impact on the national economy.
"The drastic fall of oil prices has reduced our income. This year's budget was built on an oil price of $25 per barrel, yet prices are twice as high today. I believe we will recover from that situation with minimal losses," Aliyev said at an Azerbaijani-Croatian business forum on Tuesday.
A diversification policy has enabled Azerbaijan to cut the oil sector's share of GDP to 33%, he said.
Azerbaijan has rather large reserves of foreign currency, the president said. "That gave us space to maneuver when the oil prices fell," he said.
Azerbaijan is seeking diversification of exports at the moment, he said. "We would like to enter European markets with competitive non-oil products," Aliyev said.