Press Review November 27, 2017

Sustainable development of the country's economy, fines for drivers of transport, and the State Budget for 2018 are the leading topics of today's press

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the sustainable development of the economy, which gives the author grounds to assert about the leadership of the country in the South Caucasus. The author speaks about ongoing reforms, improvement of the business environment, increase in the country's monetary reserve, strategic roadmaps, and expansion of exports. For January-October, the non-oil sector's exports amounted to 1 billion 219 million dollars.

The newspaper Novoye Vremya writes about the State Budget for 2018, where "little care is given to those in need". The author names the three-day discussion of the state budget at the parliament as formal, because no major changes will be made to the projects following the discussions.

The author cites the figures planned in the state budget, in which health expenditures for the next year will be reduced.

The government also sharply rejected the proposal of MP Masimli to change the methodology for calculating the subsistence minimum. According to him, the current counting method is obsolete. The offer of Masimli to raise the need criterion up to the subsistence minimum level was not supported either. The draft law on the subsistence minimum was adopted by deputies in the form presented by the government - in the amount of 173 manat, which is 11.6% higher than this year.

The website Azadliq.info writes about the fines of drivers for the absence of a hyphen on the license plate of the car. Over the past 13 days over 130 people were fined for this. Leaving many problems unresolved, the authorities cling to the hyphen, fining the population, for which it is so difficult to live. At the same time, they do not touch corrupt officials who profit from the same population, for which "hyphen fines" have been invented.--0--