
Azerbaijan’s net external creditor position strengthened to 153% of GDP in 2024, which is the strongest among sovereign issuers in the ‘BBB’ category, reads a Fitch Ratings’ report on the confirmation of Azerbaijan’s credit rating, Report informs.
The current account surplus halved to 6.5% of GDP in 2024, but it remains the highest among ‘BB’ category countries. The agency expects Azerbaijan to maintain relatively high current account surpluses at 6.2% of GDP in 2025-2026, despite lower oil prices. This will support moderate accumulation of foreign currency assets, even considering that oil and gas revenues account for 89% of total exports, the report notes.
According to Fitch estimates, Azerbaijan’s consolidated budget surplus in 2024 decreased significantly to 1% of GDP (from 7.8% of GDP in 2023). This is due to a sharp increase in expenditures, which is only partially offset by increased non-oil revenues and income from the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) assets.