"The government does not take serious steps in fight against inflation"

On March 17, the Milli Majlis heard the government's report for 2022. Prime Minister Ali Asadov said that the average annual inflation in Azerbaijan's trading partner countries was 20.4 percent, which also affected the overall price growth in the country.

The Prime Minister stressed that last year inflation in Azerbaijan amounted to 13.9 percent: "In particular, food prices seriously affected domestic food inflation through imports. The annual growth of the price index for imported products amounted to more than 22 percent. Inflation in Azerbaijan is mainly imported."

According to Asadov, despite the negative changes in the global economy that occurred last year due to global geopolitical tensions and the Russian-Ukrainian war, economic growth in Azerbaijan continued: "In 2022, the country produced a gross domestic product (GDP) of 133.8 billion manats (4.6 percent more), in Currently, our foreign exchange reserves amount to 62.5 billion US dollars."

The Government's report is heard annually in Parliament. The opposition, as a rule, considers this process formal. The deputy of the Milli Majlis from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, Elshad Mirbashiroglu, told Turan that opinions about the formal nature of the hearings are unfounded.

In his opinion, it is necessary to proceed from the results: "The Strategy of socio-economic development of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026. Within the framework of this strategy, along with many areas, construction and restoration work in the territories liberated from occupation is envisaged as a priority. In general, more than 5 billion manats have been allocated from the state budget for the implementation of the strategy, of which up to 60 percent has been allocated to the liberated territories."

According to Mirbashiroglu, in this case, he naturally considers the government's activities satisfactory: "Of course, the work done is also always evaluated, but there are also areas where the best expectations remain. It is impossible without it. Where there is work, there are always disadvantages. But in general, the government's activity is satisfactory."

Economist, representative of the party, REAL Natig Jafarli told Radio "Azadlig" that in a number of countries parliamentary hearings on the government report sometimes last weeks, months: "In Azerbaijan, the process ends with hearing this report for one day, sometimes questions are asked. We have a formal process. The government reports, and deputies ask questions, asking about everything except the report: "Someone says that the walls of the cemetery have collapsed in his district, someone wants water to be carried into his district. These are not questions related to a government report."

According to him, in world practice, when assessing the activities of governments, several indicators are distinguished: "One of the most important of them is inflation. The rates of inflation and price growth in Azerbaijan are as high as the government itself recognizes. So in this matter, the government remained a second-year, because we did not see serious steps in the fight against inflation. The government has certain tools. For example, the government could reduce the value-added tax on food, medicines, which would lead to price adjustments."-0—