Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Taleh Mursagulov - Trend:
The capital market of Azerbaijan needs government support, the deputy director of the investment company InvestAZ Orkhan Baghirov said in an interview with Trend.
Baghirov said that in 2016, individuals were exempted from paying dividends on shares and interest coupons for seven years, which is done to encourage their participation in this market. In addition, measures were taken to create a state register of movable property, as well as plans of the state to privatize some state owned companies by listing, etc.
Baghirov noted that, still, there is a need to strengthen these measures.
"There is a need to create a reserve fund to protect the assets held by the investment company and provide them with state guarantees, expand tax privileges, strengthen supervision and toughen penalties over non-transparent OJSCs, soften the rules restricting the participation of insurance companies in the Azerbaijani capital market," Baghirov said.
He noted that there is no shortage of financial instruments in Azerbaijan.
Baghirov added that operations carried out in the interbank foreign exchange market should be transferred to the exchange. At the same time, he considers it expedient to conduct OTC derivatives transactions at the exchange.
"However, the increase in stock market volumes is more important. The stock market in Azerbaijan is not yet developed, and liquidity instruments in the stock market are rather low," the deputy director said.
He also said that listing on the stock exchange has many advantages for companies and to spread information about this as part of the Listing Advisory Program (LAP), educational work for entrepreneurs is being carried out through the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation.
"Nevertheless, I invite all entrepreneurs to discuss the advantages of listing," Baghirov said.