Press Review 26/10/2016

The idea of Azerbaijan entering the world market with quality products, the country's dependence on imported grain, the shadow economy, and the need for an independent judiciary are the leading topics of today's press.

The Azerbaijan newspaper writes about the new brand Made in Azerbaijan in the world market, promoting the output of high quality Azerbaijani products for export. The author refers to the decrees and orders of the President of stimulating exports and reducing dependence on imports. The author also touches upon the development of private enterprise, noting that in recent years the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support allocated 1 billion manat to entrepreneurs from the state budget. The head of state signed a decree on the promotion of the brand Made in Azerbaijan in the world market.

The website Azadliq.info discusses why grain is imported into Azerbaijan from overseas. According to the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov, the logistics center built in Aktau increases the possibility of exports and imports between the two countries. According to the ambassador, this year Azerbaijan plans to buy 1 million tons of grain from Kazakhstan. That is the reason for the outflow of dollars from the country. The expert Vahid Maharramov says the annual demand of Azerbaijan for grain is 3 million tons. A little more than a million of that is food grain. The country annually produces 1.5 million tons of grain. However, experts believe this figure is too high, and it appears that due to the production only 45-50% of the demand is met domestically.

Echo has published an article titled 700,000 People Work in “Shadows” in Azerbaijan. These people are not registered in the state registers, therefore, they do not pay taxes, but they give daily bribes to the employees of the supervisory authorities. Due to the downsizing in government agencies and commercial enterprises the number of undocumented workers in Azerbaijan is growing rapidly. Recall, according to State Statistics Committee, as of October 1 in the country working-age population was 4,978,300 people with employment in the amount of 4,731,400.

In other words, the unemployed population was estimated at 247,900 people versus 245,200 as of July 1 (4,953,100 employable and 4,707,900 employed citizens) and 243,600 people as of January 1, 2016 (4,915,200 and 4,671,600 respectively).

The Novoye Vremya published an article entitled Independent Court – Protection Guarantee for Businesses. After the Azerbaijani authorities imposed a ban on unfounded inspection of businesses, these inspections plummeted. It is a fact. But has business become more free and secure? The author tells about the presentation of the project Promotion of Small Business, where Sabit Baghirov noted there are problems, despite the adoption of a large number of decrees and decisions on the development of entrepreneurship last year. Thus, 33.9% of respondents assessed the situation in the business sector as "very unfavorable", 27.9% as "difficult to assess", 27.4% as "unfavorable", 10% as "neither good nor bad" and only 0.8 % as "friendly". Yet the protection of enterprise should be guaranteed by an independent judicial system we do not have, the author notes.