Media Review for April 20, 2020

The economic problems of the country, the areas that the pandemic had a greater impact on, the loss of the Oil Fund, and the government’s activities against the backdrop of the pandemic are the topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about economic activity in the country, evaluates priorities against the background of the video meeting of I. Aliyev with the Minister of Economy Jabbarov and the Minister for Social Security Babayev.

The head of state noted the strengthening of the social sphere and the allocation of large funds. The situation of low-income families, the number of which is within 600 thousand, was especially discussed. The state will pay 190 manat to each of them within two months.

 In connection with the pandemic, there is a need to create 90 thousand paid jobs. This year it is planned to create micro farms for 12 thousand families.

The website Musavat. com discusses the situation in the services sector that has been hit hardest by the pandemic. The sphere of tourism, transport and restaurants will not be able to recover losses during this period. It is in the sector that the largest number of bankruptcies is expected. As for loans, approximately 30% of them are provided to the trade and services sector. We are talking about the amount of 2.5 billion manat, of which 47% are dollar loans, and 53% are manat loans.

The Azadliq.info website writes that the State Oil Fund lost $ 4.7 billion. The economist Neymat Aliyev notes that the assets of the State Oil Fund in Russia decreased by 40%, in Australia - by 20%, and in England - by 10%.

The invested funds in Turkey, China, Korea, Japan and other countries also lost value. Total losses amounted to 4.7 billion dollars in the first three months of this year.

According to the expert, 74% of losses or $ 1.4 billion are related to the depreciation of assets due to market and exchange rate fluctuations. The remaining 26% or (more than $ 500 million) is associated with the sale of assets (the Oil Fund was forced to sell its assets in order to fulfill its budgetary obligations).

The website Moderator.az discusses with the leader of the National Independence Party Etibar Mammadov the activities of the government against the backdrop of the pandemic. He said that the population of Azerbaijan, in comparison with other countries, behaves more disciplined in quarantine. However, the restoration of the damage will take a long time.

Mammadov believes that finally the government began to act as a single team in the person of the Operational Headquarters.