Media Review for February 19, 2020

The causes of the fire in the Sadarak shopping center, the communal debts of citizens, and the likelihood of re-price hike of cigarettes are topics of today's media.

The website Marja.az cites the opinion of the official representative of the Ministry of Emergencies about the fire in the shopping center Sadarak on February 18. In his opinion, the rapid spread of fire is due to the lack of partitions between shops. Walls of shops should not adjoin to each other. During the construction of this center, fire safety standards were not observed. Typically, the cause of such fires is improper installation of electrical equipment. In addition, the fire service of the shopping center is low. Despite the fact that it is equipped with two fire engines, the fire that occurred and the inability to put out it showed the unprofessionalism of this team.

The Yeniavaz.com website writes that Azersu intends to levy a debt of 1,116 manat from a citizen in whose apartment no one lives. The citizen himself lives abroad, and his apartment is empty. We are talking about an apartment in Sumgait at the address 9 microdistrict, house 72, apt. 68. The court examined the citizen's complaint and ruled in his favor, but Azersu challenged it to the Court of Appeal, which did not satisfy the complaint.

The website Sfera.az discusses the topic of a possible rise in price of cigarettes, since the excise rate has been increased. However, it is difficult to predict how much cigarettes can rise in price, the expert notes. According to them, excise tax is part of the cost of cigarettes. In addition, there are costs for the cigarette production process, but in any case, an increase in the excise rate negatively affects the cost of cigarettes.