Mikayil Jabbarov: Investing in Azerbaijan is too easy

"Azerbaijan managed to preserve balance in the economic field on the background of the lag in the global economy in 2015-2016, including decline in commodity (energy carriers) prices. The year 2018 was the year of restoration of economic development. We are sure that this process will continue in 2019 too," Minister of Taxes Mikayil Jabbarov said in an interview with the well-known US journalist John Batchelor.

"I think that as a Ministry of Taxes, we are not only to insure fiscal incomes, but also to promote economic development, because taxes are one of the key drivers of the economy and economic development directly affects the tax incomes. To my mind, Baku has developed and this development spread to the regions. Under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has been implementing the state programs on socio-economic development of the regions since 2004. A while ago, implementation of the fourth such program began. More than AZN 10 billion has been invested in Azerbaijan, nearly 3,000 schools, 600 hospitals and ten thousands of roads have been constructed so far," the minister said.

"You must never take into consideration the tax levies, the tax results. Tax levies should echo the economic grounds. The year 2019 is special for us. Because tax reforms were presented in late 2018. There are a number of goals. The first goal is to increase of tax levies, particularly in medium and small business. We approach this issue from two viewpoints. Firstly, we promote that development is not in fields on oil and gas, gold and other mineral resources. The development is continuous and inclusive. Flexible creates opportunity for small and medium business to avoid future economic shocks. Secondly, we don’t only focus on increase of tax levies, but also try to stimulate business. Many structures work together in this field. These are the Ministry of Taxes, Ministry of Finance, State Agencies and others. We have also imposed tax concessions to several fields, including agriculture. These have impact on revenues of those working in rural sector. As a representative of the Azerbaijani government, I can say that investing in Azerbaijan is too easy. However, I’d offer you to base on not my words, but on the Doing Business 2019 report. According to this report, Azerbaijan is among the 10 counties conducting reforms and ranks 25th," Jabbarov said.