Facilitating VAT Refunds in Azerbaijan: A Step Forward in Financial Transparency

The Azerbaijani manat maintains an exchange rate of 1.7 to dollar since the spring of 2017. At that time, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan announced that they had let the currency exchange rate float freely, and promised to carry out interventions only to prevent short-term volatility. Since then, the currency interventions have not stopped, the exchange rate remains at 1.7. However, foreign exchange receipts to the treasury from the sale of energy resources are steadily falling, and this worries economists: how long will the manat keep the rate that has become familiar to us - 1.7?

The Azerbaijani air carrier "Silk Way" and the Bulgarian company "Dronamics" have signed a memorandum that provides for the creation of a strategic alliance aimed at jointly developing advanced technologies and services related to the transportation of goods using drones.

Over 4 months of the current year, AZN 65.7 million of refunded funds were returned to consumers in Azerbaijan within the project on return of VAT part. According to the Ministry of Economy, AZN 59.2 million of these funds were VAT parts for medical services and goods purchased in retail and catering outlets. The remaining AZN 6.5 million is the part of VAT refunded to consumers for non-cash purchase of real estate.

The Azerbaijani-Bulgarian Business Forum, an initiative organized by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and backed by the Ministry of Economy, is currently underway in Baku. The forum coincides with the official visit of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and has attracted significant attention from key figures in both nations.