Press Review 05/11/2016

The situation of the economy, the financial situation of SOCAR, the impact of the Russian crisis on Azerbaijan, and compensation to residents of demolished houses on Soviet Street are the themes of today's leading media.

Azadlig comments the statement by the President on the successful exit of the economy of Azerbaijan from the crisis. The expert Nemat Aliyev believes the economic situation should be evaluated not by statements, but by statistical data.

Thus, over the past period, foreign trade turnover fell sharply. Only in March the deficit amounted to 295 million dollars.

Sharply deteriorated export activity. As for the non-oil sector, the profit decreased by 38%.

GDP in the three months fell by 5 billion manats.

Novoye Vremya: Unfortunately, the authoritative rating agency Moody's disappointing forecasts for all areas of the Azerbaijani economy, including large enterprises, are more and more frequent. This forecast was also for Azerenergy and Azerishig. The agency does not forget about the banking sector of Azerbaijan either, predicting increase in the number of problem loans. And yesterday the agency stopped at the state oil monopoly of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, unveiling a negative rating on this structure. The rating service believes that SOCAR is benefiting from the continued strong support by the Azerbaijani government, being the largest employer and taxpayer.

All these negative facts, as well as forecasts from Moody's, should encourage officials to look for other ways of making money. The development of non-oil sector of the economy should be a priority, the newspaper said.

Bizim Yol writes about the new economic crisis in Russia, which will affect the situation of over a million Azerbaijanis, as well as in Azerbaijan as a whole. The total amount of money sent home by Azerbaijanis in Russia is about 2 billion USD a year.

As a consequence, the situation in the construction sector and the housing market will get dramatically complicated.

Yeni Musavat writes about the situation with the demolition of housing on Soviet Street. The residents are not going to leave their apartments, because they are not satisfied with the compensation issued. However, the residents are being cut off water and electricity, and put in unbearable conditions. The executive power of the Yasamal district said it cannot issue a payment of more than 1,500 manats per 1 sq. meter.