Year 2018 quite successful for Azerbaijani economy – MP

By  Trend

The year 2018 was quite successful for the Azerbaijani economy, Azerbaijani MP Rufat Guliyev told Trend.

He said that last year, Azerbaijan defined the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as one of the priorities.

“Last year, the category “microbusiness” was introduced in Azerbaijan, which is an important step,” he noted. “In the future, certain privileges will be introduced for the development of microbusiness. Reforms aren’t complete yet, they continue, deepen and expand.”

He noted that the goal of the reforms is to create a sustainable class of micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs.

He added that small business is an important part of the economy of all developed countries.

“For example, the share of products and services manufactured by small and medium-sized businesses reaches 70 percent of GDP in Japan and the US, and 65 percent in Europe,” he said. “Azerbaijan, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, has embarked on the development and expansion of small and medium businesses. In the near future, it will be possible to bring the share of SMEs in Azerbaijan’s GDP to 50 percent.”

He added that the opening of 118,000 jobs in Azerbaijan in 2018 is related to the improvement of the business climate, including in the field of SMEs.

“It is safe to say that the business climate in Azerbaijan will become more favorable every year,” the Azerbaijani MP said. “In addition, Azerbaijan solved the financial system issues related to foreign exchange earnings and the growth of foreign exchange reserves. It is very gratifying that Azerbaijan’s foreign exchange reserves reached $45 billion in 2018.”

He noted that the authoritative global financial institution - the World Bank predicts the growth of Azerbaijan’s economy in 2019 at 3.6 percent, adding that in 2018 the growth of the country’s economy was 1.4 percent.

“If they have such a forecast, it means that they favorably assess the capabilities of the Azerbaijani economy,” he said. “The key to success in 2019 is based on what was created and developed in 2018. The course taken to move away from the oil sector in the direction of development of the non-oil sector is deepening and expanding. This work is already bearing fruit, in particular, in changing the share of the non-oil sector in total exports.”

He went on to add that cash turnover is decreasing in Azerbaijan, the share of cashless payments is increasing, this contributes to increasing economic transparency and is a positive macroeconomic factor.

In conclusion, he noted that agriculture is also developing in Azerbaijan at a fairly good pace, which allows reducing the country’s foreign currency expenditures on imports of products.