By Azernews

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov has said that the country has no problem with covering the population’s daily demand for food and other products and that that there is no reason to panic amid the spread of coronavirus, local media reported on March 14.

Jabbarov made remarks while commenting on the recent mass purchases in stores.

“Presently, the restrictions imposed on the borders of our country in connection with the danger of coronavirus do not apply to goods transportation. The country has stocks of food and other goods for several months in advance,” Jabbarov said.

Currently, there is a sufficient supply of daily consumer goods, including in malls, stores, and warehouses, and there is no reason to panic, Mikayilov said. He noted that the country possesses reserves of all basic products and the imported products are replaced.

Jabbarov noted that the Economy Ministry has held meetings with large producers and importers of various food products and other goods. Reserves are regularly monitored and assessed in order to ensure the food security of the country, the minister said adding that “economic security issues are in the spotlight of the Azerbaijani government.”

The minister said the government owns all the instruments to control the economic situation and additional support measures will be taken to increase domestic production.

Speaking about the growing demand for medical products, medical alcohol and masks in the consumer market, Jabbarov said that there are no problems with the supply of these products and in the near future an enterprise for the production of medical masks will start working in Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that while attending the meeting on the situation in the global energy market and its impact on the country’s economy on March 11, Jabbarov stated that, in general, two factors have potential to affect the country's economy - the coronavirus epidemic and the failure of the OPEC + agreement.

“I want to note that the economy of Azerbaijan will remain stable in the beginning of 2020. The GDP growth rate for the last two months was 2.8 percent; the GDP growth rate in the non-oil sector was 6.7 percent. In the non-oil industry, production growth rose to 21.7 percent, while the non-oil sector increased its investment volume by 21 percent. Obviously, the spread of the coronavirus epidemic has had a negative impact on some areas of activity, for instance, tourism and air transport. In other areas, however, we observe a certain increase. At the same time, the nominal growth rate of cash income of the population rose from 5.1 percent to 8.9 percent,” Jabbarov pointed out.