Press Review 03/10/2016

International assessment of reforms in the country, reasons for the decline of transfers from Oil Fund to the state budget, a sharp reduction of local expenditures of cities and regions are the leading topics of today's press.

The Azerbaijan newspaper writes about the appreciation of economic reforms in Azerbaijan by international organizations. According to the author, the World Economic Forum has said that Azerbaijan among the CIS countries and Turkic-speaking countries has the most competitive economy.

The author says the country's priorities are the protection of investments and their orientation to the non-oil sector.

As a result, for 6 months investment increased by 2.4%, and in agriculture - by 3.1%. In general, 6.3 billion USD was invested.

The WEF report said on the competitiveness Azerbaijan ranks 38 among 138 countries.

The website Azadliq.info cites the opinion of the expert Mammad Talibli that 6.1 billion AZN will ber transferred from the State Oil Fund to the state budget in 2017, i.e. the transfer in comparison with the current year will decrease by approximately one and a half billion AZN. Without transfers the state budget can be filled only by 62%.

Bizim Yol writes about the reduction in the state budget article on the local costs in cities and regions by 4-5 times. In the state budget for 2017, local revenues are forecast at the level of 642.4 million AZN. This is 53% less than the previous year.

The Finance Ministry explained the reduction in the costs, saying that education, culture, art, information and physical training costs were separated from the local costs.  –0---