Press Review of 17. 05. 2016

The Karabakh problem, the state of the currency market, the price increases in the services sector, the position of the courts, and the bad loans are the leading topics of today's press.

The official newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the Karabakh problem on the background of the meeting held in Vienna between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents. The article reports the agenda of the meeting and the proposals of the mediator countries. The author believes the reason for the unresolved conflict is the reluctance of Armenia to return the occupied territories and the insufficient pressure of the OSCE Minsk Group on Armenia in this regard.

After the April war strengthened the position of Azerbaijan, Armenia was urged by its backers to make concessions, to somehow prevent the complete collapse of the Armenians. The Armenian authorities are in a deadlock and are at a loss.

The US and Russia requires the settlement of the conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, says the author.

Azadlig writes that the foreign exchange market of Azerbaijan reduced. In the first quarter of 2016 the sale of dollars decreased by 55 times, reaching 79 million USD, and the Euro sales decreased by 3.5 times and amounted to 69 million Euros. Restricting the currency market in the country is the result of the policy pursued by the National Bank - closing exchange points and limiting the sale of foreign currency. According to the economist Nemat Aliyev, it was expected.

Echo reports that increase in water and sewage tariffs that came into force in Azerbaijan from May 16 and was authorized by the Tariff (Price) Council does not cover the costs of commercial Azersu OJSC. Water rates were raised by 20% and sewage tariffs – by 2.5 times, but this is not enough because of the devaluation of the national currency in December last year. Based on the scale of the devaluation, the rate shall be 1.95 manats today - 0.6 manats per cubic meter of drinking water and 1.35 AZN for sewer services. But the source refused to predict the terms of further increasing water and sewage tariffs.

The newspaper writes that Azerbaijan will continue to raise tariffs for public utilities. Therefore, they are likely to be reviewed. You can expect an increase in tariffs for electricity from 6 to 8 kopecks, and then to 10 kopecks, the chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies Nariman Agayev believes.

Novoye Vremya: According to the Azerbaijani Constitution, the judiciary is independent and not controlled by other branches of government, and in some matters even standing above them. This is a standard blueprint of the constitutions of all civilized countries, a tribute to the international standards. In fact, the Azerbaijani court is far from Western standards.

The Azerbaijani court is priori unable to fulfill its function, because the government has done everything in its power to turn the court in its poor excuse. This is why the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) declined a list of candidates for judges, who will represent Azerbaijan in the European Court of Human Rights.

 The Azerbaijani court virtually makes no secret of how much freedom would cost, but in case of a political order, money does not matter.

The power uses the court as a baton, turning a blind eye to the judicial business.

Yeni Musavat continues to write about problem loans, which can lead to the collapse of the banks. In the next two years, any help from the government should not be waited in this area, the newspaper says.

The expert Natig Jafarli says the banks have a liquidity problem. Issuance of loans in manats is problematic, and the population does not want to take loans in dollars. The newly established Financial Market Control House has abolished the issuance of loans in US dollars.

The banking expert Akram Hasanov considers it necessary to adopt a law on bankruptcy. He claims the inevitability of a new devaluation of the manat in the near future.