Press Review 04/08/2016

Development in agriculture, the plight of the country's economy, the position of banks and customer relationships are the major themes of today's media.

The official newspaper Azerbaijan has published an article, which refers to the development of the agricultural sector. The author recalls that in his time, Heydar Aliyev paid a lot of attention to the agricultural sector and believes that the current prosperity is associated with the economic fundamentals created by Heydar Aliyev. The author also notes that nowhere in the world there are such benefits as those provided to the Azerbaijani farmers. The article also states that in the last two years the agricultural sector has been invested 360 million dollars, and this year another 160 million dollars will be allocated.

Azadlig has published an article The Azerbaijani Economy Is in Great Danger, which states that the era of cheap oil is not over yet and, in fact, its price will fall to 30 dollars. The economic expert Nemat Aliyev believes that with the fall in oil prices to 30 dollars or less there will be a dramatic impact on the economy.

The state budget and most areas of the economy are in crisis. In comparison with the previous year, GDP has fallen by 23 billion dollars, which means the population’s deprivation of a large income.

Echo has published an article entitled Uneven Distribution of Income. According to experts, the number of very rich citizens of Azerbaijan is approximately 3% of the total population, and the percentage of the poor in Azerbaijan about 12%.

As regards the so-called "mid-range", its number is about 20%. Azerbaijan has a huge social gap between rich and poor, which in principle is a normal thing for countries with economies in transition. However, the gap between rich and poor is 22 times, whereas in developed countries the gap is no more than 2-3 times.

Today, on the level of poverty in the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan is at the 4^th place.

In turn, the chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Development Vugar Bayramov said the total capital of the richest people of Azerbaijan is estimated at 13 billion dollars.

Novoye Vremya has published an article entitled Banking Sector Recovering from Crisis? Azerbaijani banks have adapted to the situation arising after the transition to the floating exchange rate regime. Reuters was told this by the chairman of the Financial Market Control House Board Rufat Aslanli. "The adaptation of banks to the new realities is completed, and some of the weak participants have already left the banking sector, and we can talk about changing the situation for the better," said Aslanli.

However, the Central Bank does not hide the fact that it artificially supports the manat with currency interventions. Therefore Aslanli’s assertion is unconvincing. If banks adapted to the current realities, they would not have a fever, and the national currency would be more stable.

Bizim Yol writes about the relationship of banks with the police. Clients who cannot repay their loans are reported to the police. Akram Hasanov, head of the Anti-Collector firm, tells of complaints coming to him in this regard.

According to the legislation, this issue should be resolved in court in a civil procedure. Therefore, the police cannot intervene in the situation.  –0-----