President: 2.5 billion manats were allocated to maintain economic stability in Azerbaijan

“The coronavirus pandemic has hit the economies of the world. 2.5 billion manats, or about $1.5 billion, were allocated to maintain economic stability in Azerbaijan, solve the problems associated with unemployment and maintain the stability of the macroeconomic and financial situation,” said President of Azerbaijan, chairman of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States Ilham Aliyev as he addressed the extraordinary Summit of the Turkic Council held through videoconferencing.

“In order to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the country’s economy, on macroeconomic stability, employment issues and businesses, the Cabinet of Ministers has prepared and approved an Action Plan. If we take into account the sectors and individual entrepreneurs affected by coronavirus, we can see that about 600,000 people are worst affected by this situation. Entrepreneurs have been urged not to lay off workers. The state will pay a significant part of the salaries of more than 300,000 people working in 44,000 business entities. In addition, more than 290,000 representatives of micro and private entrepreneurship will also benefit from state support,” the head of state said.

“These programs cover a total of about 600,000 people. Employment and preservation of wages of more than 900,000 workers in the public sector and 690,000 workers in the private sector have been ensured. A total of 50,000 paid public jobs will be created for the social protection of the unemployed. One-off payments to registered unemployed persons have begun. A state guarantee will be provided for 60 percent of loans in the amount of 500 million manats, or about $300 million, recently issued to entrepreneurs. Half of the interest rate on guaranteed loans will be subsidized from the state budget. The state will also subsidize 10 percent of the interest rate on existing bank loans in the amount of 1 billion manats, or about $600 million that do not have state guarantees. To do this, 50 million manats, or about $30 million, has been allocated from the state budget. The main objective of this measure is to assist entrepreneurs who are experiencing difficulties in paying interest due to the pandemic. As a result of the measures of social isolation, the consumption of electricity by the population has increased. With this in mind, concessions have been made for utility bills. These programs are only part of state support. Work is currently under way on other mechanisms of state support,” President Ilham Aliyev added.