Media Review August 21, 2019

The development of the country's regions, the size of the shadow economy in the field of tourism, closed jobs, early marriages are topics of today's media.

The newspaper "Azerbaijan" writes about the development of regions, noting the role of Ilham Aliyev. The author notes that the current situation in the regions is fundamentally different from what it was 16 years ago: industrial enterprises are developing in the regions, and infrastructure and welfare are improving. Serious steps have been taken to create agricultural parks - 22 are already in operation, 51 of them are planned to be created in total. As a result of the implementation of these projects, 2.4 billion manat will be additionally invested in the country, more than 4 thousand jobs will be created.

The site "Marja.az" writes that in the first 6 months of 2019, 5.6 thousand jobs were closed in Azerbaijan. Of these, 51.7% are in the private sector. In the first half of 2019, 92 thousand jobs were created in the country, of which 28.9% is the non-state sector. 63.6% of jobs are open in Baku, the rest in the regions. For August 1 of this year, the number of registered unemployed amounted to 60.7 thousand, of which 35.8% were women. The average size of unemployment benefits amounted to 229.1 manat.

The site "Oxu.az" writes to underage mothers. Ainur Veysalova, the representative of the State Committee for Women, said that mothers under the age of majority were not kept in the country. The largest number of marriages with persons of this category took place in 2011 - 5138. In 2017, it amounted to 4821. According to Veysalova, there is a decrease in the number of children born to 15-17 year old mothers. So, in 2011, 15-17 year-old mothers gave birth to 4392 children, and in 2018 - 2421.

The newspaper "Yeni Müsavat" writes about the problem of tax evasion of tourism objects using the example of the Relax leisure center in Lerik district. Tax evasion remains a serious problem in the country's economy. This is a big fault of the deputies and government officials who roof such objects. In many cases, government officials are the owners of such facilities, experts say. According to the World Bank, in 2017, the share of the shadow economy in the country's non-state sector amounted to 66%. The tourism industry is one of those where such processes flourish. According to the State Statistics Committee, in 2018, taxes paid by hotels and other tourism facilities in the country amounted to 33 million manats. It can be argued that in this area 65-70: incomes are hidden from taxes.