Without Oil Revenues Reducing, Authorities Not to Undertake Reforms - Gubad Ibadoglu

“For several reasons, I am a supporter of falling oil prices,” the head of the Center for Public Initiatives Gubad Ibadoglu wrote on his Facebook page.

In his opinion, first of all, this is due to the fact that the reduction of oil revenues creates opportunities for reforms, since without this the authorities will not undertake either economic or political reforms.

“Current oil prices are able to ensure the profitability of this sphere. Profit above the norm creates the basis for placing corporate interests above the state interests,” he said.

At the same time, the economist stressed that at high oil prices exploitation increases. In this case, the reserves intended for future generations are also used.

Ibadoglu noted that the authorities of Azerbaijan in the period 2001-2017 received oil and gas revenues of more than 130 billion dollars and currently 30 billion of them are stored as a reserve, and 100 billion dollars was spent for 15 years.

“This means that every year an average of $ 7 billion was spent. If, on average, we spent not $ 7 billion but $ 5 billion, 58% of the oil revenues would have been consumed so far. In this case, the State Oil Fund could get more income from the funds managed by it,” Ibadoglu said.

In his view, in this case, the finance spent this year should have been spent in seven years.

“This means the Azerbaijani authorities spent the funds intended for 2023,” he concluded.   -----71D