Media Review September 24, 2018

Support by the authorities of small and medium-sized businesses, the decision of the Constitutional Court on dollar loans, and savings on the background of growing incomes are the topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the support of entrepreneurship by Ilham Aliyev. For 15 years the number of entrepreneurs in the country has increased by 4.2 times. More than 35 thousand entrepreneurs were granted up to AZN 2.2 billion of soft loans.

The author recalls the creation in June of this year of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Business under the Ministry of Economy, which is designed to eliminate problems on the way to the development of small and medium-sized businesses.

The website Marja.az writes about the decision of the Constitutional Court on dollar loans taken by citizens before the devaluation. The decision of the Constitutional Court on September 21 is commented by the bank expert Akram Hasanov.

The Constitutional Court said that citizens, receiving a dollar loan from the bank, take on themselves the risks associated with a possible change in the exchange rate. That is, the appreciation of the dollar cannot be unexpected for citizens, therefore they have no right to demand changes in the terms of the agreement concluded with the bank. The expert believes that the current rationale given by the Constitutional Court is too superficial.

The newspaper Novoye Vremya is studying the question of why the citizens, getting richer, still continue to save money.

Answering this question, the newspaper makes a "profound" conclusion that citizens have experienced devaluation and a sharp rise in prices, therefore they save money.