In Absence of Political Will to Reform

January 10 under the chairmanship of the President of Azerbaijan a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers was held on the results of socioeconomic development in 2015 and the upcoming challenges.

Speaking about the economic bloc, the following figures were voiced: last year the GDP grew by more than 1%, industrial production - by 2.4%, non-oil industry - by 8.4%. Last year, the local economy was invested about $ 20 billion, half of which was contribution of foreigners.

Commenting on these figures, the expert economist Gubad Ibadoglu noted the important detail - the main "achievement" was the two-time devaluation of the national currency, but the keynote speakers, in addition to the President, were not the heads of the Central Bank or the Oil Fund, but Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, who spoke too optimistically. Also spoke the Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov and the Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov, indicating the government's attitude toward the problem.

"I am interested in the fact of the physical presence of the Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh, who is 81 years old, and his deputy Abid Sharifov (76 years old), who for 20 years in these positions have never performed at such meetings. Is it possible to carry out effective reforms with such leaders? That is the question," asks the Doctor of Economic Sciences.

According to him, to fight the crisis we should first acknowledge its existence, which is not done by the head of state or the Prime Minister. They tend to blame everything on external factors and report the so-called achievement. There are two objectives here: to create cosmetic changes for the appearance of business environment, and not to allow members of the government, who want reforms, to talk about it. They are therefore forced to be silent, because there is no political will. --17D-