Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 August / Trend corr. I.Khalilova / Heydar Babayev, Azerbaijani Economic Development Minister, said that the recent developments in Georgia would not affect the country's economy, but a little increase in prices for consumer commodities might be felt.
"We carry out monitoring over commodities, and according to checks, an increase in prices for consumer commodities have been observed because of foreign citizens' flow to the country. Therefore, increase in prices is a normal occurrence," the Minister said.
"The monitoring carried out over the commodities, which are kept in storages, shows that Azerbaijan will not face any problem with consumer commodity deficit," Babayev said.
Azerbaijan will also examine how the recent developments in Georgia may affect the economy in the country.
"Insignificant drop has been observed in oil product export due to suspension of Georgian ports. However, country can increase the oil product export via other routes," the Minister said.
According to Babayev, the situation in Georgia will not cause reduction in Azerbaijan's rating. It cannot stand long, according to Babayev, Azerbaijan's rating will be raised again.
Today, the operation of the Georgian Black Sea Poti port has been suspended due to the Russian troops entered into the region. At present, ships stay on 13 moorings of the port. Poti port, which is located on the Black Sea coast in Georgia, transports light oil products via the territory of Azerbaijan from the east coast of the Caspian. The capacity of port's oil terminal reaches 3mln tons.
Furthermore, no oil cargo is delivered to Batumi port.
Large-scale military operations commenced in the unrecognized South Ossetia republic in the early morning of 8 August. Georgian Army was reported to enter Tskhinvali on 9 August. Official Tbilisi says the events are Restoration of the Constitution Regime. The unrecognized South Ossetia wants assistance from Russia. On 12 August, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced ceasefire; however, the Russian troops have not yet been withdrawn from Georgia.
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