«Shortage» of Azerbaijani Customs in Imports from Three Countries Amounts to 1.6 Billion USD

The Doctor of Economy Gubad Ibadoglu conducted a statistical analysis of the data on the import to Azerbaijan from Russia, Turkey and Georgia in 2015. The study found that the import of goods at 1.6 billion dollars was not taken into account by Azerbaijan's customs office.

Ibadoglu shared the results of research on his Facebook page. He noted that he continues the study on the mirror methodology of trade statistics with 15 countries since 2008.

According to Ibadoglu, the trend of previous years, when the data of the Azerbaijani customs on the foreign trade volume do not coincide with the official information from the partner countries continued in 2015.

The expert refers to the official sources of the foreign states.

1) According to the Russian side, the Russian Federation sent goods for 2 billion 243 million 135 thousand USD to Azerbaijan. In the official bulletin of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan it is stated that the goods imported from Russia only amounted to 1 billion 437 million 901 thousand dollars. The difference between the data of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan amounted to 805 million 234 thousand dollars. This shows that only 64.1 percent of the imports from Russia were taken into account.

2) From Turkey to Azerbaijan goods were shipped, totaling 1 billion 899 million 508 thousand USD. According to the Azerbaijani customs, the goods imported from Turkey only totaled 1 billion 171 million 385 thousand dollars. The difference amounted to 728 million 123 thousand dollars. That accounted for 61.7 percent of the import operations

3) From Georgia to Azerbaijan, goods amounting to 124 million 160 thousand dollars were exported. But the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan registered the import of goods only worth $ 67 million 992 thousand. The difference in the official data of the two countries amounted to 56 million 268 thousand dollars. That is, only 61.7 percent of the import operations were taken into account.

Thus, according to the study of the import operations with Russia, Turkey and Georgia, Azerbaijan’s customs did not take into account goods amounting to 1.6 billion USD.   -03D-