Non-oil product exporters enjoy state support

By Azernews

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan promote the development of the private sector and sustainable growth of non-oil production in the country.

More than 14 million manats ($8.21 million) was allocated from the state budget to exporters of non-oil products in 2016-2019 under the export promotion mechanism in Azerbaijan, Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev told local media.

He added that in the first half of 2019, this amount exceeded 5 million manats ($2.93 million).

Mustafayev noted that thanks to the mechanism, non-oil products worth more than $210 million were exported to countries such as Germany, Russia, China, Poland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, South Korea, Greece, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the U.S., Japan, Saudi Arabia and others.

In October 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for paying export incentives to persons involved in the export of non-oil products.

According to the government decree, the basic amount of export promotion is 3 percent of the customs value specified in the export declaration of the exported goods. To receive the encouragement, entrepreneurs should contact the Ministry of Economy and submit the necessary documents.

The increase of number of the products for which export promotion mechanism are applied opens up additional prospects before local exporters and encourages them to take advantage of created favorable conditions.

In general, the state budget of Azerbaijan for 2019 provides funds in the amount of 15 million manats ($8.8 million) to pay incentives to exporters of non-oil products.

In the first half of 2019, Azerbaijan exported non-oil products worth $979 million, which is 15 percent higher than in the same period of 2018.

The main share of the non-oil exports was taken by tomatoes ($138.1 million, a decline of 1.35 percent). Other export products included raw cotton ($74.9 million, an increase of 2.64 times), gold ($70.4 million, a growth by 16 percent), peeled hazelnuts ($67.9 million, an increase of 1.9 times), etc.