Media Review - January 9, 2020

The implementation of social reforms, the impact on Azerbaijan of the conflict between Iran and the United States, and the attitude to illegal buildings are topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the successes of social and economic reforms. Last year, Azerbaijan gained the status of a donor country. In the economy, including in the non-oil sector, greater productivity was achieved, and the country's foreign exchange reserve increased.

The author recalls the social package adopted last year and covering 4 million 200 thousand people. More than 5 thousand internally displaced persons and almost 800 families of martyrs received housing. Over 15 years, 15 thousand km of roads were built.

The website Musavat.com writes about the aggravation of relations between the USA and Iran, and its impact on Azerbaijan. Oil prices have risen these days, reaching $ 72 per barrel. An ounce of gold rose 1.6% to $ 1,576.

The global oil market continues to shake and prices change daily.

The increase in oil prices is beneficial to Azerbaijan, because production volumes are falling.

However, military confrontation in the Middle East does not bode well for Azerbaijan and the country may face a large flow of refugees from Iran, which will create serious problems.

The website Modern.az cites the opinion of ex-deputy Vahid Ahmedov about the violation of urban planning standards. President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly spoken on this subject, but there is no sense. Historic buildings are demolished, and ugly buildings are being built in their place. The head of state instructed the State Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning to stop such processes and forbade the heads of executive authorities to issue building permits.