Press Review 09/20/2016

Development of cotton growing, the economic situation, poor baby nutrition, increase in drug prices, and price increase in the retail sale system are the leading topics of today's press.

The official newspaper Azerbaijan published an article entitled End of Dark Days of White Gold, dedicated to the development of cotton production in the country. The author recalls that in Soviet times, Barda was a cotton center of Azerbaijan. The head of state in his latest speech in Sabirabad on September 17 noted the need for development of cotton growing, and the year 2016 must be decisive in this process.

This year in Barda cotton was planted on more than 3,000 hectares. It is expected that each hectare will produce 30 quintals of cotton. The number of employees in this sector is 3,400 people this year. It is planned that in the future, the area under cotton crop will increase to 7,500 ha.

The website of the Azadlig newspaper leads the IMF data on the sharp decline in GDP in Azerbaijan and discusses this issue with experts. The IMF predicts that the currency reserves of the Central Bank in 2016 will decrease by 4 billion 117 million US dollars.

At the end of 2015 the currency reserves amounted to 5 billion 17 million dollars, but this year the stocks have decreased by 2.7 times. The expert Nemat Aliyev predicts that GDP will fall by another 22 billion this year.

The expert Gubad Ibadoglu says that in 2016 the economic recession in Azerbaijan will be 2.4% and provides concrete figures for GDP.

Echo has published an article titled, Baby Food in Azerbaijan Expensive and of Poor Quality? This is about the quality of children's water. It is important for children to have microbiologically safe water. However, children's food also leaves much to be desired, so it is preferable to cook at home instead of buying baby food from shops.

Novoye Vremya has published an article entitled, Gold Drugs on the rise in price of drugs due to the fall of the manat. And now the price will be set depending on the daily dollar rate set by the National Bank.

In the near future the price will grow by 18-20% by the end of the year - 30%, although there is a risk that the "price increase" will be unchecked.

Bizim Yol writes that prices have jumped by 12% last month. With reference to the State Statistics Committee it is reported that for January-August 2016 the prices of consumer goods and services in comparison with the same period of 2015 increased by 10.8%. However the indexes declared by this office do not often reflect the real state of affairs.