Ilham Aliyev spoke about the middle class

Yesterday President Ilham Aliyev received World Bank Director for the South Caucasus Henry Kareli and during the meeting he first time in many years of his reign, spoke about the middle class. According to experts, argue about the formation of the country's middle class and its state support would be an exaggeration.

According to the official report of the meeting, during the meeting Ilham Aliyev noted that the country is implementing targeted measures to strengthen the social situation of the middle class. In turn, the representative of the World Bank praised the work carried out in Azerbaijan to improve the welfare of the population.

During the last years tax profits and income tax on individuals revised their reduction, which affects the level of their income. Over the past 10 years only through the government provided soft loans to entrepreneurs totaling over 1.2 billion manat. The presence of tens of thousands of luxury cars, luxurious mansions in the government and not biased circles are also regarded as a factor in the formation of citizens with certain estates income. However, Azerbaijan has no official or alternative assessment of the level of the middle class. According to the economist Natig Jafarli, today this category includes the standard of living of about 10-15 % of the population, with monthly income of 1,000 manat and higher..

Jafarli believes that the influx of oil revenues has galvanized growth in living part of the population, has stepped up the business climate , contributed to the formation of so-called creative class. "The task of the government is to overcome various obstacles, unfair competition and monopoly manifestations in business ," he said.

Middle class fighting for more decent education and health care, a fair judicial system, is a powerhouse of democratic reforms in various spheres of life. So he pulls the whole society and the growth, the economist said expert. ---08B