Press Review May 5, 2018

Preparation for the birthday of former President Heydar Aliyev, the situation in the non-oil and banking sectors of the country are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper "Azerbaijan" - in connection with the forthcoming birthday of former President Heydar Aliyev the newspaper assesses his activities, making a digression into the history. The author calls him one of the strongest politicians in the world. The articles says that Ilham Aliyev is the continuer of Heydar Aliyev policy, and presents the digital data of economic growth of the country.

The newspaper "Echo" writes that Azerbaijan is still waiting for a significant growth of the non-oil sector. Azerbaijan, which proclaimed a course on the development of the non-oil sector and the abandonment of raw dependence, continues to move in this direction in 2018 as well. Of course, it's impossible to change the situation in a few years, but we achieved certain successes unequivocally. The main emphasis of the government is on the development of tourism, as well as the agrarian sector. Our growth will be achieved through the export of not only agricultural products, but also the export of building materials and cement, and soon the Sumgait technopark, which is also export-oriented, will work.

The Novoye Vremya newspaper writes that the banking system of Azerbaijan continues to vegetate in a crisis. A few days ago, many banks reported a reduction in interest rates on deposits. Naturally, this is mainly done to earn and improve its capitalization. However, the immediate financial benefits of a number of bankers will have a detrimental effect on the banking system as a whole. The total net loss of banks in Azerbaijan as of April 1, 2018 was 55.9 million manat.