Despite the Azeri authorities’ more and more frequent statements on the improving investment climate in the country, foreign investors are not in a hurry to invest their funds in Azerbaijan, reported the Baku-based Zerkalo newspaper.

The State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan reported that foreign companies and international financial institutions invested a total of 706,238,400 manats in Azerbaijan this January-July – an annual decrease of 48.3%. British companies’ investments in the Azerbaijani economy totaled 341,822,400 manats (48.4% of the total investments, an annual decrease of 46.2%), followed by U.S. investments – 112,828,500 manats (a decrease of 61.1%).

During the period under review, other foreign companies invested in the Azerbaijani economy: Japan, 58,995,100 manats (a 2.5-fold decrease); Norway, 36,815,700 manats (a 2.5-fold decrease); Turkey, 29,258,800 manats (a 2.5-fold decrease); South Korea 6,190,700 manats (a 6-fold decrease).

As regards international institutions’ investments in the Azerbaijani economy during the period under review, the situation is as follows: the World Bank, 41.509mln manats (a 2.2-fold increase); Asian Development Bank, 14,380,400 manats (a 2.4-fold increase); European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); 9,049,700 manats (a1.6-fold increase); Islamic Development Bank, 1,525,900 manats (a 2.5-fold decrease); Kuwait Fund, 1,660,700 manats (a decrease of 37.4%).

Under the circumstances, the Azerbaijani Government is trying to promote investments in infrastructure projects. However, they failed to fully replace the foreign investments during the period under review.

This January-July, investments in the Azerbaijani economy totaled 4,082.5mln manats – a decrease of 9.7% as compared with last January-July.