Positive Effects Not Expected from Potential Financial Amnesty, Expert

The opinion of the public that persons illegally accumulating funds will return them from abroad in consequence of the likely financial amnesty is an illusion, said the chairman of the Center for Support of Economic Initiatives Azer Mehdiyev. "Every time there is a new manifestation of the crisis, one of the outputs of it is considered to be the financial amnesty. It is believed that funds transferred to offshore areas will flow back and be legalized. However, the specificity of political economy of Azerbaijan is that in the present circumstances the financial amnesty will not lead to positive results," stresses the economist.

Mehdiyev believes that success of the financial amnesty depends on certain objective conditions. These are the nature of government - whether it gains the confidence by those who hold assets abroad; level of illegal proceeds and illegally obtained funds – if they are formed due to tax evasion or by abuse of power and corruption; whether you can trust the stable development of the country since the amnesty. According to experts, until now all these questions remain open.

Last time the government spoke about the possible introduction of a financial amnesty in 2014. There are no specific steps in this direction. ---08D