Expert: Bureaucratic Entrepreneurship Should Be Eliminated

Baku / 08.05.18 / Turan: The new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan cannot be called reformatory, as it is a continuation of the previous Cabinet. This opinion was voiced by the former MP, economist Nazim Beydemirli in the interview to the Chetin Sual (Difficult Question) program of Turan News Agency.

To implement reforms, the Cabinet of Ministers should be completely independent, that is, it should not depend on the presidential administration. But now, in fact, there are parallel government structures.

According to Beydemirli, the ministers coordinate their decisions not with the leadership of the Cabinet, but with the heads of the Presidential Administration departments and the assistants to the head of state.

As for the tasks that the new Cabinet should solve, first of all it is necessary to liquidate bureaucratic enterprise and eliminate monopolies. However rich in natural resources the country is, if entrepreneurship does not develop, the economy will not be competitive, and sustainable progress will not be achieved.

The Cabinet of Ministers, according to the expert, should finally approve the forms of declarations of income and property in accordance with the law, adopted back in 2005.

The leaders of many ministries, having coordinated their powers, are actually engaged in private business. In practice, projects implemented through public procurements on the basis of informal distribution are transferred to companies controlled by officials. While officials are engaged in business, they will not be up to the state issues.

As for the financial and banking system, Beydemirli considers it important to privatize the International Bank.

The expert believes that the priority tasks of the banking and financial sector is to reduce the cost of credit resources and their availability. He suggests abolishing the National Entrepreneurship Support Fund. In the banking sector, there should be direct competition. There should be conditions for foreign banks to work in Azerbaijan. These are the requirements of the classical market economy.

Beydemirli critically assesses the creation of the State Agency for Housing Construction under the President, which is engaged in the construction of social housing. In fact, at the expense of the state budget, commercial activities are carried out.

Beydemirli considers it important to unite the fees in the state budget in one department. In particular, he offers to abolish the State Fund for Social Protection of Population and to merge it with the Ministry of Taxes.

At the same time, he positively assesses the President's order of joint control over export-import operations by the Ministry of Taxes and the State Customs, although these issues should be regulated by law. -03B06--