TODAY.AZ / Business

Azerbaijan’s economic freedom on rise

21 January 2014 [10:50] - TODAY.AZ
By AzerNews

A new report reveals that Azerbaijan's economic freedom has been on the rise in recent months.

The report called, The Index of Economic Freedom 2014 was prepared by the Heritage foundation together with the U.S. Wall Street Journal.

It noted that Azerbaijan ranked 81st among 186 world countries by gaining 61.3 points out of 100 points. The figure puts Azerabaijan among the averagely free countries from an economic point of view.

Azerbaijan moved up six steps and improved the economic freedom index by 1.6 points compared to 2013. The progress in financial management and ownership is indicated as a reason.

"The report is based on real and specific facts and figures," Northwestern University professor, political analyst Fikret Sadikhov said.

"Azerbaijan's economic development, especially in recent years, is estimated by local and foreign experts objectively and in accordance with the country's achievements in the field of economic development," Sadikhov said.

"The main index here is mainly useful for the foreign organizations to assess the situation in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been providing Europe with energy resources for a long time and guaranteeing the energy security of this continent," he added.

The European countries are interested in deepening cooperation with Azerbaijan and reports like this are consistent with the realities in the economic sphere of the country.

"I think the analysis is consistent with the indices, achieved by Azerbaijan recently," Sadikhov said.

Acting head of Russia's trade representative office in Azerbaijan Dmitry Akulenko believes that improving Azerbaijan's position in the Index of Economic Freedom 2014 report shows the reliability of the country as a business partner.

"Of course, improving the country's position in this ranking is a positive factor," Akulenko said. "This fact testifies to the fact that the investment, business environment continues improving. This will be beneficial for improving Azerbaijan's economic relations with foreign partners."

Over $ 150 billion have been invested in the national economy of Azerbaijan for the last 10 years.

"The report results will also affect the Azerbaijani- Russian cooperation," Akulenko added.

"Of course, we must continue working over some issues," he said. "One can not say that improving Azerbaijan's position in this ranking will solve them at once. But this achievement of Azerbaijani economy can be seen as another confirmation of the reliability of the country as a business partner. It will certainly have a positive impact on Azerbaijan's investment and business attractiveness."

The Index of Economic Freedom 2014 report emphasizes Azerbaijan's low public debt. There were very positive results associated with the state of public expenditure, tax, business, labor, trade, monetary policy, investments and financial freedoms.

Azerbaijan - among 42 countries of Asia-Pacific region - ranked 13th and its average point exceeds the average regional and global indices. Azerbaijan is ahead of countries like India, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Russia and Ukraine on the economic freedom level.

The economic freedoms have been significantly expanded in Azerbaijan recently. This puts Azerbaijan among the free countries because of the recent reforms carried out in the country.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/130139.html

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