Media Review November 14, 2018

Reforms in the agrarian area and the budget discussion are the leading topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about successes in the agrarian area. The author emphasizes that at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, agriculture was exempted from all types of tax, except for land tax, and farmers were paid funds for fuel and lubricating oils. Additional benefits were made in the form of granting seeds, fertilizers, machinery, and breeding animals.

The author cites data for 9 months, according to which 5,700 units of agricultural machinery were purchased, and the productivity of agricultural products increased by 4.3%, while 80% of soft loans were issued to farmers.

In 2019, it is planned to allocate AZN 835 million from the state budget to the agrarian sector.

The website Bizimyol.info.az writes about the discussion of the draft state budget in parliament. The author cites the opinion of the MP Vahid Ahmedov about the banks.

Government agencies take loans without collateral, and subsequently cannot pay them. The state is forced to pay the debt, that is, at the expense of the budget. The MP believes the Ministry of Finance should take a more stringent policy in this matter, and debts should not be returned at the expense of the budget.

The newspaper Yeni Musavat writes that during the discussion of the draft budget for 2019, deputy Gudrat Hasanguliyev made a proposal to provide financial assistance in the amount of AZN 1,000-2,000 to the families of martyrs, as the state has this opportunity.

The MP noted that the state allocates 45.5 million manat for the construction of apartments for war invalids, for internally displaced persons - 200 million manat, and for the construction of sports facilities - 244.4 million manat. The MP proposes to reduce the cost of building sports facilities and redirect funds to provide people with housing. -0----