Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.14
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijani people's interests outweighed the economic aspects, Rufat Guliyev, MP of Milli Majlis (parliament), member of the parliamentary committee on economic policy told Trend on Jan.14.
He was commenting on the cancellation of the Tariff (price) Council's decision on changing the prices for gasoline and diesel fuel by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has canceled the decision of the Tariff (price) Council on changing the prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Industry said on Jan.14.
In accordance with the order of President Ilham Aliyev, an extraordinary meeting of the Tariff Council was held on Jan.14, during which a decision on revising the prices for petroleum products was adopted.
The decision 'On regulating the tariffs for petroleum products in the country' dated Jan.12, 2015 was canceled under the decision of the Council.
"As a result of decreasing the tariffs by 0.02 AZN in the form of road tax included in the prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and liquid gas produced in the country, the retail price for AI-92 gasoline will again be equal to 0.70 AZN per liter and diesel fuel - 0.60 AZN," according to the Council's decision.
The wholesale price for liquid gas was reduced to 263.6 AZN per metric ton and totaled 300 AZN including the road tax, according to the decision.
The MP said the president's decision to cancel the increasing of the gasoline prices is a willful political decision.
The MP said the head of state deemed it necessary to maintain the gasoline prices unchanged, adding that increasing them by 0.02 AZN will not bring the expected economic effect.
The official exchange rate on Jan.14 is 0.7844 AZN/USD.
"Each state structure tries in its own way to make up for losses related to the revenues to the state budget," said Guliyev. "Nevertheless, the head of state has the right to cancel a particular decision."
He said that the Tariff Council's decision had two sides.
"The potential economic effect for the country and the social factor were on the two sides of the scale and the social factor outweighed the others," Guliyev said.
He added that the increase in gasoline prices could bring multiplier effect as in all developed economies.
"Usually, the prices rise for energy resources and the prices for services, production and consumer products start to increase," said the MP. "This leads to the growth of inflation."
Guliyev added that the increase in excise duties on cigarettes, alcohol, luxury goods, cars for the middle class didn't cause serious threats, as those are not essential commodities.
The MP said today it is necessary to improve the people's welfare. "I believe that the increase in prices for gold, platinum, diamonds will affect only one percent of the population, while the increase in gasoline prices affect a much larger part of the population.
Guliyev added that Azerbaijani president puts the people's interests above all other issues.
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