Azerbaijani president calls for keeping up to 20% of GDP in medium term

BAKU. March 28 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has approved a public debt ceiling of 20% of GDP for the medium term.

The president signed a decree on the matter on Monday.

The non-oil deficit is also capped at 20% of non-oil GDP in the medium term and 27.5% in 2022.

Azerbaijan's national debt was an estimated 16.899 billion manat, or $9.941 billion, which is 18.2% of the country's GDP, as of January 1, 2022, the Azerbaijani Finance Ministry said earlier.

The national debt amounted to 16.939 billion manat, or 23.4% of GDP, on January 1, 2021. Thus, the national debt decreased 0.2% in 2021.

According to the Finance Ministry, the national debt as of January 1, 2022 was 81.8% made up of foreign debt at 13.831 billion manat, or $8.136 billion, which is 14.9% of GDP, and 18.2% was internal debt at 3.068 billion manat, or 3.3% of GDP.

Foreign debt decreased 7.8% in 2021, while internal debt rose 58%.

According to the plans of the Azerbaijani government, national debt should decrease to $7.7 billion, or 14.1% of GDP, in 2025.