BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.15
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
A number of preventive steps taken by the Azerbaijani government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus in 2020 led to a weakening of business activity in the real sector of the country's economy, Arzu Huseynova, acting director of the Scientific Research Institute of Economic Reforms under the Ministry of Economy, told Trend.
According to Huseynova, the surveys of the real sector business entities conducted in the country can be shown as confirmation of such weakening.
“The quarterly surveys conducted last year testified to a decline in economic activity, the results of which were reflected in official statistics,” she stressed. “At the same time, the support measures carried out in the country, to a certain degree, allowed to preserve jobs and income from wages, mainly for a wide range of employees in the public and private sectors, including a significant part of hired workers.”
As the acting director noted, a number of tax and other benefits, simplification of tax procedures, additional incentive packages, support for entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as socio-economic support, a decrease in the rates of contributions for compulsory state social insurance, and other measures favored preservation of employment in Azerbaijan.
The average monthly nominal wage in the country from January through November 2020 reached 703.5 manat ($413.8), which is 12.9 percent more than in the same period of the previous year.
As a result of comprehensive social reforms carried out on the basis of the relevant decrees of the President of Azerbaijan, the minimum wage in the country was increased to 250 manat ($147), which contributed to a growth in the wages of civil servants and employees of a number of budgetary institutions, enterprises, and organizations.
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