Azerbaijan’s strategic foreign exchange reserves reached $89.4 billion as non-oil and gas exports rose 20.5% to $3.2 billion in the first nine months of 2026, according to figures presented to parliament.
Elvin Jamalov, chief of staff at the Economy Ministry, presented the figures during a Milli Majlis committee meeting on the 2027 budget package, Vesti Baku reported. The export figures were also reported by Trend.
Reserves Double From End-2018 Level
As of Oct. 1, strategic foreign exchange reserves were twice their level at the end of 2018. They exceeded Azerbaijan’s annual gross domestic product and were about 20 times larger than the country’s external public debt, Jamalov said.
The foreign trade surplus, excluding the State Oil Fund’s gold transactions, increased 25% to $7.1 billion.
Industrial Goods Account for 60% of Non-Oil Exports
Industrial goods made up 60% of non-oil and gas exports. Taking the expected full-year 2026 result into account, such exports will have increased 2.5 times since 2019, Jamalov said.
The number of employment contracts in the private non-oil and gas sector has nearly doubled over the same period. The sector now accounts for 56.5% of all employment contracts.
Under its medium-term economic strategy, the government plans to focus on industries based on local resources and on expanding export services, including transport, logistics, tourism, information technology and data centers.