USAID-Supported Seminar Heightens Awareness of Inflation Issues
As part of USAID’s Alternative Inflation Methodology Development project, the Economic Research Center (ERC)—a respected Azeri economic think-tank—held a widely publicized seminar on August 16, 2007 to report the results of their recent USAID-financed work on an alternative inflation index. ERC Executive Director Gubad Ibadoglu presented the results and engaged participants, including a broad group of representatives from the Government of Azerbaijan (GOAJ), private sector, NGOs, donors, and local media, in a focused discussion on the implications of trends revealed by his organization’s study.
An international best practices approach was utilized to calculate month-on-month inflation since January 2007, indicating an 18 percent inflation rate for January-June 2007–significantly higher than GOAJ estimates. GOAJ officials have already begun to publicly reference the results as relevant to the development of appropriate strategic guidelines to combat inflation. Seminar discussions underscored the importance of consistent budgetary control and related monetary management policies to dampen current inflationary pressures. The event marked a major step towards an open and objective civil society dialogue on inflationary pressures and their consequences.
 |
| USAID’s Alternative Inflation Methodology Development project presented the results and engaged the participants in a focused discussion of the implications of the trends revealed by the study. |
Back to Top ^ |
