Azerbaijan economy grew 6 pct in 2013 - president

BAKU, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's gross domestic product(GDP) expanded by 6.0 percent in 2013, up from 2.2 percentgrowth in 2012, backed by a rise in oil and gas production andgrowth outside its dominant energy sector, President IlhamAliyev said.

Aliyev told a government meeting late on Thursday thatinflation last year reached 2.4 percent. According to the statestatistics committee, inflation in 2012 was 1.1 percent.

He added that total investment in the economy reached $28billion in 2013, up from $25.8 billion in 2012, while thecentral bank's reserves were $50 billion last year, up from$41.5 billion a year earlier.

Growth in the former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea hasslowed dramatically since the oil-fuelled boom of 2003-2007,when the economy expanded by an average 21 percent per year.

The main reason was a slowdown in oil production. Itseconomy is predicted to grow at an annual average of 5.1 percentin 2014-2017.

State energy company SOCAR said in late December thatAzerbaijan's oil and condensate production rose by 0.4 percentin 2013 to 43.5 million tonnes, confirming that output hasstabilised after two years of declines.

Falling output at the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG)oilfields - the biggest Azeri project and one of the largestglobally for oil major BP - had raised concerns in Baku.SOCAR and BP said last June oil output at ACG had stabilised.

The country also raised natural gas output by 11.3 percentlast year to 29.5 billion cubic metres (bcm).

The International Monetary Fund has said it wants Azerbaijanto reduce its dependency on the oil and gas sector, whichaccount for about 70 percent of the state budget's revenues.

Aliyev, president since 2003 and who was re-elected for athird presidential term in October, said days before theelection that his government has made progress diversifying theeconomy of the Caspian Sea nation of 9 million.

He said in October the non-oil sector grew 10.4 percent inthe first three quarters of 2013.

Some analysts voiced doubt about the official figures,suggesting they were meant to paint a rosy picture of theeconomy in a country whose leadership tolerates little dissent.