Standard & Poor's predicts real growth of Azerbaijani economy

Investments in gas production at the Azerbaijani offshore gas condensate field 'Shah Deniz-2' will help to return the economy of Azerbaijan to real positive growth in early 2017, a report of the international rating agency Standard & Poor's says.

"In the long term, Azerbaijan should capitalize on the extraction of gas from new fields, which we expect will partially compensate for the fall in oil production in existing fields," Trend cites the report.

S&P expects that the deficit of the state budget of Azerbaijan in 2016-2018 will amount to about 2% of GDP. At the end of 2015, this figure, according to the government, amounted to 5% of GDP.