Press Review 01/06/2017

Results of presidential trips to the regions, the state of the real estate market, on-line commerce and its negative impact on the new tax rules are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan sums up President Ilham Aliyev's visits to the regions of the country. There was a total of 23 trips, as the author counts, during which 64 sites were opened. The author calls it a successful socio-economic development strategy for the region.

The website Azadliq.info has published an article about the lack of a normal government. The newspaper cites the opinion of MP Vahid Ahmadov, who predicts growth in the economy in the second half of this year. He also notes that the implementation of the Strategic Roadmap requires AZN 27 billion. However the sources of these funds are still unknown. It is possible that it will be foreign investors, the MP says.

Echo has published an article about the state of the real estate market in 2017. Experts say price decrease in AZN is not expected in 2017. Some of them also predict transition to USD in this business.

The year 2016 became a disaster in terms of real estate sales. Since 2015 there has been a decline in prices for primary and secondary housing, and the sale of new buildings decreased along with the decrease in mortgage loans.

Officials say it is planned to allocateAZN 100 million from the state budget for the construction of social housing and mortgage lending in 2017. But no one knows whether the real estate market in Azerbaijan will be rehabilitated.

Bizim Yol writes about online trade, which is now subject to taxation. Thus, according to the new amendments to the Tax Code, an electronic trader will pay the VAT at 18% on the ordered goods.

The representative of the Public Association Electron Ticaret Nijat Manafov says there are products that have no alternative in Azerbaijan, and they should be exempted from the 18% tax.