Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 July / corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ The Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan began to consider the structure of the basket of goods, Heydar Babayev, minister of economic development of Azerbaijan said on 4 July. The re-consideration of the basket of goods was necessitated by the improved welfare of the population and increase in the consumption.
According to the legislation, the basket of goods can be considered once in three years. It is measured from the viewpoint of minimal amount of consumption of 2,258 kilo calories per head in a month which is less than the indicators of the developed countries.
"We suggest increasing the level of consumption in the basket to 2,400-2,500 kilo calories," minister said.
The structure of the basket of goods includes both foodstuffs and nonfoods and services. According to minister, the number of services in the basket is expected to be increased. However, a square of an apartment per head makes up 18 square meters while it makes up 9 square m all over the world. Therefore, Babayev offers to add new services (internet and other information services) by decreasing heating of the housing (to 9 square m).
"The world experience shows that these services should be widely used in the world experience once they are added to the basket of goods," Babayev said.
However, these changes will not cause rise in the cost of the basket of goods. The monthly cost of living was increased from AZN64 to AZN70 in 2008.
The current exchange rate for 4 July makes up 0,8097 AZN/USD.
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