Since the late 1990s, the economy has undergone a mild recovery.
Agriculture is an important part of the economy in terms of both employment and production.
However, the oil and gas industry offers the greatest promise for Azerbaijan's future economic development. In the last few years, the contribution of the service sector, especially transport, telecommunications and trade-related activities, has grown sharply and now accounts for a large part of the economy. Azerbaijan left the Rouble zone in 1993 and introduced its own currency, the Manat , the following year. A major privatisation programme was also put into effect which by 1998 had transferred over three-quarters of productive activity into private ownership. The country's most important trading partners are now the Russian Federation, Iran, Turkey and Germany.