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Official statistics: salaries outstrip inflation in Azerbaijan

By M. Alkhazashvili

(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Thursday, December 6
The average monthly salary in Azerbaijan between January and October, 2007, reached AZN 187 (USD 220), a 33.9 percent increase on the same period in 2006, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee.

This year has seen salaries soar in Azerbaijan, with the greatest increases in the mining industry and the financial and real estate sectors, the State Statistics Committee reports.

While Azerbaijan’s economy is reckoned to be the fastest-growing in the world, according to the US–Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce—thanks largely to substantial energy reserves—it also charts a worrying inflation rate.

Inflation is expected to rise to 13 percent next year, according to Azer Amiraslanov, the deputy chairman of Azerbaijan’s permanent parliamentary commission.