BAKU, Azerbaijan - Liberalizing Azerbaijan’s services sector could produce an economic gain equivalent to about 3% of gross domestic product, a World Bank economist said, pointing to legal and regulatory barriers that restrict trade in services.
Steve Loris Gui-Diby, the World Bank’s senior economist for Azerbaijan, presented the estimate at the Fitch on Azerbaijan 2026 conference in Baku, according to Report.
Gui-Diby said services had been the country’s main engine of economic growth during the past decade. Exports of digitally delivered services have also increased in recent years, but their potential is constrained by barriers embedded in the current legal and regulatory framework.
Potential Gain Exceeds Current Growth Rate
The estimated 3% GDP benefit from reform is more than twice Azerbaijan’s current annual growth rate, which Gui-Diby put at about 1.2% to 1.3%. He said the economy had expanded by 4% to 5% several years earlier.
The estimate focuses primarily on restrictions formally written into laws and regulations. If officials also account for how those rules are applied in practice, the potential economic benefit could be larger, Gui-Diby said.
The comments follow the World Bank’s October 6 forecast that Azerbaijan’s economy will grow by 1.2% in 2026. The bank’s assessment suggests that faster growth will depend not only on available financial resources but also on reforms that expand private initiative, competition and exports of services.
Source: Vesti Baku.