Media Review December 4, 2018

The socio-economic development of the regions, a look at the state budget of 2019, and the situation of passenger transportation companies are the topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the socio-economic development of the regions. The author leads the statistics, according to which, as a result of the implementation of the third state program on regional development (2014-2018), 624.9 thousand permanent jobs were created mainly in the regions.

For the first 9 months of this year, 192.5 thousand jobs were created, of which 94.5 thousand are permanent. Of these quantities, 42.4% fall to the private sector. This means an improvement in the social welfare of the population, the author argues.

He also notes that in the first 9 months of this year, 30,000 jobs were closed, of which 88.7% came from the private sector.

The website Strateq.az gives an analysis of the economist Gubad Ibadoglu to the state budget for 2019, in which there are 19 weak points. The economist argues that the presence of weak points will affect the quality of the state budget for the next year.

The expert called the nominal participation of the parliament in the budget process as one of such weak points; its discussion does not differ from discussions of previous years. He also noted low efficiency of budget funds.

He called the other weak point the spending of oil revenues, as well as the formation of a budget on the basis of $ 60 per barrel. In addition, when forming the budget, the contribution of the regions is very small, the expert believes.

The website Marja.az writes about the situation with passenger traffic in the capital. A representative of the Baku Transport Agency notes that currently 41 carrier companies are operating in the capital.

There are 2.7 million passengers that move in Baku per day. Only 3-4 companies satisfy passengers with quality services, Baku Bus among them.

The state wants to control 85% of passenger traffic, the remaining 15% is provided by the private sector, which acts according to criteria established by the state. It was noted that there is a problem with the drivers. Each driver must work 8 hours a day, no more, but this situation is constantly disturbed, which is a big physical overload.