Press Review for May 17, 2017

The focus of the press is on the Islamic Solidarity Games and the victory of Azerbaijani athletes, the possibility of a rise in the price of bread, and the situation around the International Bank of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijan published a lengthy article Ilham Aliyev Main Author of Azerbaijan"s Triumph at Islamic Solidarity Games (http://www.azerbaijan-news.az/index.php?mod=3&id=122240), in which the successful performance of the Azerbaijani Athletes at the Islamic Games is attributed to the President of Azerbaijan. The athletes themselves also express gratitude to Ilham Aliyev.

The Echo in the article Why Does Azerbaijani Government Try to Save International Bank of Azerbaijan? (http://en.echo.az/?p=59512) published a commentary of Akram Hasanov on the IBA.

"Many media outlets and experts are confident that the International Bank has failed, but it has not. The government is "in the process" of saving the IBA.

According to the information of the IBA, in 2016 the bank had a loss in the amount of 1.740 billion manats. Moreover, the bank"s authorized capital is 1.241 billion manat," Hasanov said.

According to the expert, financially, it would be more profitable for the government of Azerbaijan to declare the IBA bankrupt, and not to answer for its obligations to legal entities.

But the government has taken on debts because the IBA lenders are large foreign banks of the USA, Russia, France, Switzerland, etc. If these banks lost their deposits in the IBA, it would inflict a severe blow to the image and reputation of the country, and the credit rating of Azerbaijan would collapse, undermining the confidence of international financial institutions, Hasanov explained.

The expert also noted that a number of state-owned companies in the Republic of Azerbaijan, including the State Oil Company (SOCAR), took loans in foreign banks. If the state allowed the bankruptcy of the IBA, then the state companies of Azerbaijan would not only face refusal to issue loans to them, but could also face demands of early loan repayment. That's why our state chose the lesser of evils - it took on its shoulders a financial burden of more than $ 3 billion, Hasanov continued. However, in the end, the burden of costs will fall on the shoulders of the population.

The Yeni Musavat published an article entitled: Bread Can Rise in Price in Azerbaijan (http://musavat.com/news/azerbaycanda-corek-bahalasa-biler_438580.html). The author points to a rise in the price of wheat in the world market from 122 to 137 dollars. Azerbaijan, according to the expert Vahid Maharramov, despite subsidies of 90 manats per hectare, still imports 1.4 million tons per year to meet the needs of the population. Therefore, the rise in price of wheat will entail a rise in the prices of flour and flour products.

The Novoye Vremya analyzes the country's economic problems. According to the State Statistics Committee, there is an outflow of labor from the private sector to the state sector.

The AZN devaluation, the deficit of foreign currency and the sharp decline in household incomes have forced many businessmen to curtail their business. Naturally, without seeing the prospects for entrepreneurship in the near future, many private sector employees have rushed to seek jobs in the state sectors of the economy.

The absence of corruption, monopoly and lawlessness of officials in business is what the Cabinet of Ministers of the country should provide first. This is the only way for the influx of personnel into the private sector, which will have a positive impact on GDP and on confidence in the domestic economy. -0---