Press Review of 04. 10.2016

The Pope's visit, increase in customs duties on food products, the problem of unemployment, and corruption are the leading topics of today's press.

The Azerbaijan newspaper published an article about the visit of the Pope, noting that the attention of the world media was focused on Baku. Twenty media agencies covered the event. The author believes religious tolerance reigning in Azerbaijan has caused particular interest on a global scale.

The website Azadliq.info comments on the increasing customs duties on several imported goods and a further rise in prices in the country. The article says that in the state budget for the coming year the share of customs revenue has sharply increased, amounting to 27.2%.

The expert Mammad Talibli believes the level of consumption will also decline, which means the impoverishment of the population.

Novoye Vremya in the article “Is There Potential for Creating New Jobs?” talks about the unemployment problem.

Jobs in Azerbaijan are offered more than closed, said the Minister of Labor and Social Protection Salim Muslimov. According to him, the unemployment rate in Azerbaijan is in the range of 5%. New jobs not only compensate for the number of closed ones, but exceed them.

The author believes the Minister is not quite aware of the situation, since the population feels the rise in unemployment very clearly.

Echo publishes an article entitled “Azerbaijani Citizens Afraid to Talk about Corruption.” In the fight against corruption in the country, 171 criminal proceedings are a negligible figure. Until now, the citizens of Azerbaijan prefer to conceal the facts of extortion and bribe, the Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies Nariman Agayev said.

Unfortunately, in Azerbaijan forms of corruption are not researched, so the scale of the problem could be only guessed.

Expansion of ASAN will partially solve the problem of "everyday corruption". The Hot Line of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General works well and prosecutors promptly respond to appeals. Of course, sometimes it takes a long time to find out all the circumstances, but in any case, they bring it to the end. Exact figures on how much money the government spends on combating corruption are not announced. However, according to international researches, every dollar spent on the fight against this phenomenon brings $23 to the state treasury.