Press Review May 22, 2018

The economic development of the regions of the country, the situation with the production of sugar, and the application of compulsory health insurance are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the economic growth in Nakhchivan, especially over the past 10 years under the rule of President Ilham Aliyev, since it was exactly during this period that the GDP of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) increased tenfold.

The volume of industrial output in the NAR increased 34.4 times, investments in fixed assets increased 15.9 times, including construction and installation that increased 15.2 times, and over 72 thousand jobs were opened. The NAR is 100% provided with natural gas, and eight power plants are built.

The website Marja.az writes about the collapse of the sugar business, relying on official statistics. For four months of this year compared with the same period in 2017, the production of sugar cubes and granulated sugar fell by 85.3%.

For 4 months of this year, 12.5 thousand tons of sugar cubes and granulated sugar were produced. The Imishli sugar factory owned by Azersun Holding was not competitive with importers in the price segment.

In January-April 2018, Azerbaijan imported 19,100 tons of sugar for 8 million 641 thousand US dollars.

In the near future a new sugar plant will be built in the Yevlakh region. In the territory of this region and the Geranboy region sugar beet will be grown.

The newspaper Novoye Vremya writes about the system of compulsory health insurance (CHI). According to official reports, the implementation of the CHI system is in full swing, and recently the decree of the head of state expanded the territory of the pilot project for the introduction of CHI. The State Agency for CHI received 18.32 million manat from the state treasury to implement this goal. -0---