BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
The pandemic has led to a decrease in activity in the global and national economy and limitation of investment opportunities, Azerbaijani MP Vugar Bayramov told Trend.
“Of course, the use of social isolation measures for minimization of the impact of coronavirus on the health of citizens affects the Azerbaijani economy,” Bayramov added. “However, despite this, the reforms being carried out under the leadership of the Azerbaijani president will allow to restore the economic activity in the post-pandemic period as soon as possible.”
"According to the Ministry of Economy, as a result of the pandemic and instable oil prices, economic activity declined, the economic balance was broken while the introduced restrictions broke the production-processing-consumption chain,” the Azerbaijani MP added.
“However, consistent reforms being carried out by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the measures of improving the business environment and ensuring economic transparency will minimize damage to the country's economy and restore economic activity after the pandemic in a short period of time," the Azerbaijani MP said.
The MP stressed that the package of measures developed by the Ministry of Economy serves not only to minimize the economic consequences of the coronavirus during the pandemic, but also to support activity in the real sector in the post-pandemic period.
"From this point of view, tax incentives, as well as expansion of the access to the soft loans, will allow entrepreneurs to use these privileges both during the pandemic and after the pandemic, to minimize costs, as well as to restore economic activity in a short time,” Bayramov said.
“The presentation of the E-Credit Platform developed and presented by the Ministry of Economy, once again shows that entrepreneurs will receive more state support,” the MP added. “The loan subsidy mechanism will cover a loan portfolio worth 1 billion manat [$588 million], and 100 million manat [$58 million] will be allocated in this sphere.”
“This will allow the entrepreneurs to avoid difficulties in fulfilling their loan obligations during the pandemic,” Bayramov said. “Entrepreneurs are also provided with tax benefits. This is directly aimed at reducing their costs. On the other hand, the entrepreneurs are offered preferential loans worth 500 million manat [$294 million]. The state will give a guarantee on 60 percent of loans.”
“This will allow entrepreneurs working in the sectors affected by the pandemic to directly take advantage of these soft loans by expanding their activity,” the MP said. “Thus, during the pandemic, along with direct state funding, a package is being introduced to reduce the entrepreneurs' expenditures, as well as to expand their access to the loans."
Bayramov stressed that the pandemic and a sharp decline in oil prices affected the Azerbaijani foreign trade turnover and the balance of payments.
“However, export still exceeds import, which helps maintain a surplus in the foreign trade,” the MP said.
Bayramov added that the pandemic has created new conditions and entrepreneurs must be prepared for new technological challenges.
"During the reforms being carried out under the leadership of the Azerbaijani president, the priority is the application of innovations in the country's economy,” the MP said.
“In particular, Azerbaijan’s leading role in regional activity related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the agreement on the establishment of the Regional Center of the Fourth Industrial Revolution of Davos’s World Economic Forum in the country show that Azerbaijan is a country that supports innovations and contributes to the innovative and technological development,” Bayramov added.
“The reforms that will be carried out in the country in the post-pandemic period will allow to support technological innovations, which will lead to an increase in innovative value in the economy and intensification of diversification trends,” the MP said. “This will strengthen the leading role of innovations in the non-oil sector of the economy in the future."
“The issue of minimizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is directly controlled by the president,” Bayramov said.
"If, on the one hand, the policy being pursued by the president is aimed at minimizing the impact of the pandemic on public health, then on the other hand, this serves to reduce its impact on entrepreneurs, employees and others,” the MP said.
“At the same time, the compliance with the prescribed rules by citizens to overcome pandemics is a very important condition. Unfortunately, some citizens misunderstood the mitigation of the special quarantine regime and the lifting of strict restrictions,” the MP added. “In the current situation, there is a great need for every citizen to be more responsible and more actively support the state policy in the fight against the pandemic.”
“The elimination of the virus and a decrease of its impact depend on following the rules by each of us,” Bayramov said. “Only in this case will we be able to maintain positive results in the fight against a pandemic and achieve elimination of the virus.”
“While following the rules, we contribute to the protection of not only our health, but also the health of our loved ones, relatives and society as a whole,” the MP said. “The pandemic is already an economic problem. It has a negative impact on the global and national economy. If we follow the social isolation rules, this will lead to a reduction in the quarantine period and will contribute to the restoration of economic activity in all sectors."