Press Review November 21, 2017

The evaluation of the state budget for 2018, the impact of illegal street trade on the budget, and the instability in the oil production are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes the state budget of the country is the largest in the South Caucasus. The author calls the budget successfully compiled, meeting national interests and economic security.

The package of the draft state budget documents has already been approved by the parliamentary committee and will be submitted for discussion to the plenary session of the MM.

The newspaper Echo published an article titled About 100 Thousand People in Azerbaijan Engaged in Illegal Street Trade.

Due to unauthorized trade, employees of state bodies that back street vendors earn at least 60-70 million manat a year. Illegal trade is flourishing and has turned into a highly profitable business. Illegal entrepreneurs often have several trade outlets in the city. For illegal trade, they give a bribe of 50-60 manat a month.

From the unauthorized trade, the government loses millions of AZN. The number of illegal traders in Baku and on the Absheron peninsula is more than 10 thousand. In general, over 100,000 citizens are engaged in illegal trade throughout the country.

The newspaper Novoye Vremya writes about the instability of the oil sector. Three days ago, the media reported an increase in tariffs for the AI-95 and AI-98 gasoline imported to Azerbaijan.

This price increase will not affect most drivers in any way, since the bulk uses domestic gasoline AI-92. However, the trend is alarming. The rise in prices for gasoline occurs against a background of a decline in oil production in the country. Therefore, there is a threat of an increase in the price of the AI-92 brand. -0---