Azerbaijan’s economy expanded 0.3 percent in the first four months from the same period a year earlier, the State Statistics Committee said today.

The non-oil economy grew 9.5 percent, while the oil and gas economy shrank 6.4 percent, the committee said on its website.

Inflation accelerated 2.7 percent from the beginning of the year mostly on food prices, it said.

The Caspian Sea nation, which is the third largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union, saw its economy all but ground to a halt last year, growing only 0.1 percent after oil production fell 10.17 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at zagayev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net