Press Review 23/11/2016

The reforms in the country and the reaction of the international community, the problem of hot water supply, the volume of the "shadow economy" and the deepening of the crisis are the leading topics of today's press.

The Azerbaijan newspaper writes that the reforms implemented in the country are welcomed by the international community as they create favorable conditions for business. Despite the crisis, the country has successfully implemented large-scale projects and programs, including social. 29 new schools have been built, 485 have been refurbished, and 145,000 new jobs have been created, of which 121,000 are constant.

The author also writes about the creation of 32 large farms and granting preferential loans amounting to 72.4 million manat to them.

The country has created favorable conditions for business and, therefore, the portal Business Insider has included Azerbaijan in the list of countries favorable to business.

The website Azadliq.info writes that the hot water supply is not regulated by the state. Previously, the price was determined by Tariff Council, and JSC Azeristilik Techizat will identify it from January 1, 2017. The official representative of this structure Rafik Aliyev said the new price for hot water will be determined based on the price of cold water plus gas and electricity expended. This will be the tariff for hot water. The author points out that all this will lead to an increase in prices for hot water.

Echo has published an article on the underground economy, which annually "eats up" 12-15 billion manat. Among the CIS countries Azerbaijan has the lowest level of shadow economy, with which local experts disagree.

Thus, the annual volume of Azerbaijan's GDP for last year amounted to 54.4 billion manat, of which 30% is the share of the shadow economy.

The best way to fight the shadow economy is a transition to non-cash payment. However, the level of non-cash system in Azerbaijan is only 5-10%.

Novoye Vremya has published an article about the recession in the economy, which is observed in 2016 and will be 3% this year.

Given the lack of plans to significantly increase production of oil and gas in Azerbaijan, the state revenues will also remain at a low level. The best way out of this situation would be the liberalization and diversification of the economy in order to reduce its dependence on energy exports. But liberalization would cause the authorities to significantly reconsider their policy, which is not observed yet.