What Does the 2025 Budget Promise?

For many years, we have been stating that the average monthly salary in the country does not reflect the real income level of the population. This is because the average monthly salary is inflated due to the high wages in the oil and gas sector and the public sector. For example, in January-November 2024, the average monthly nominal salary of employees in the national economy increased by 8.0% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 996.8 AZN. Salaries in the oil and gas sector stood at 3,717 AZN, while in the non-oil and gas sector, it was 947 AZN.

The paradoxical development trajectory of resource-rich states is described with various epithets. A wide array of terms is used in this context: "resource curse," "devil's excrement," "distorted development," "African fever," "Dutch disease," "paradox of plenty," and so on. Qatar, which leads the world in GDP per capita, also uses another intriguing phrase: “children of oil.”

In 2024, one of the most notable developments in the Azerbaijani economy that demands detailed analysis is the transformation of foreign trade statistics. This article provides an in-depth examination of Azerbaijan's foreign trade landscape in 2024, focusing on its dynamics, structure, and geographic composition. It evaluates emerging trends, highlights current and future challenges, and considers devaluation expectations alongside their short- and medium-term implications. For a comprehensive perspective, the analysis also includes a retrospective review of the past three years, emphasizing the post-COVID recovery period.

The State Statistics Committee (SSC) has released the macroeconomic indicators of the country's economic and social development for January-December 2024[1]. Let’s review the most significant of these indicators.