RepublicMember of:
CIS, CSCE, IMF, OIC, UN, UNCTAD
Diplomatic representation:
NA
US:
Ambassador (vacant); Robert MILES, Charge d'Affaires; Embassy at Hotel
Intourist (telephone 8-011-7-8922-91-79-56) plus 8 hours; (mailing address
is APO New York is 09862); telephone NA
:Azerbaijan Government
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a crescent and
eight-pointed star in white are centered in red band
:Azerbaijan Economy
Overview:
Azerbaijan is less developed industrially than either Armenia or Georgia,
the other Transcaucasian states. It resembles the Central Asian states in
its majority Muslim population, high structural unemployment, and low
standard of living. The economy's most prominent products are cotton, oil,
and gas. Production from the Caspian oil and gas field has been in decline
for several years. With foreign assistance, the oil industry might generate
the funds needed to spur industrial development. However, civil unrest,
marked by armed conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region between Muslim
Azeris and Christian Armenians, makes foreign investors wary. Azerbaijan
accounts for 1.5% to 2% of the capital stock and output of the former Soviet
Union. Although immediate economic prospects are not favorable because of
civil strife, lack of economic reform, political disputes about new economic
arrangements, and the skittishness of foreign investors, Azerbaijan's
economic performance was the best of all former Soviet republics in 1991
largely because of its reliance on domestic resources for industrial output.
GDP:
$NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate —0.7% (1991)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
87% (1991)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992)
Exports:
$780 million (f.o.b., 1991)
commodities:
oil and gas, chemicals, oilfield equipment, textiles, cotton (1991)
partners:
mostly CIS countries
Imports:
$2.2 billion (c.i.f., 1990)
commodities:
machinery and parts, consumer durables, foodstuffs, textiles (1991)
External debt:
$1.3 billion (1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 3.8% (1991)
Electricity:
6,025,000 kW capacity; 23,300 million kWh produced, 3,280 kWh per capita
(1991)
Industries:
petroleum and natural gas, petroleum products, oilfield equipment; steel,
iron ore, cement; chemicals and petrochemicals; textiles
Agriculture:
cotton, grain, rice, grapes, fruit, vegetables, tea, tobacco; cattle, pigs,
sheep and goats
Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption;
status of government eradication programs unknown; used as transshipment
points for illicit drugs to Western Europe
Economic aid:
NA
Currency:
as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency
Exchange rates:
NA
Fiscal year:
calendar year
:Azerbaijan Communications
Railroads:
2,090 km (includes NA km electrified); does not include industrial lines
(1990)
Highways:
36,700 km total (1990); 31,800 km hard surfaced; 4,900 km earth
Inland waterways:
NA km perennially navigable
Pipelines:
NA
Ports:
inland - Baku (Baky)
Merchant marine:
none - landlocked
Civil air:
none
Airports:
NA
Telecommunications:
quality of local telephone service is poor; connections to other former USSR
republics by landline or microwave and to countries beyond the former USSR
via the Moscow international gateway switch; Azeri and Russian TV broadcasts
are received; Turkish and Iranian TV broadcasts are received from INTELSAT
through a TV receive-only earth station
:Azerbaijan
