BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
Trend:
There is not a single untouchable entrepreneur, not a single untouchable official, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his closing speech at the conference dedicated to the results of first year implementation of "The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023", Trend reports.
“Although the number of unemployed and poor people in Azerbaijan is getting smaller, I have instructed to increase the number of recipients of targeted social assistance,” Ilham Aliyev said. “To do this, new criteria must be applied so that there are no poor people in our country. If an entrepreneur wants to earn 5 manats more, he fires a person. This is unacceptable. If there are such facts, do let me know and we will talk to these entrepreneurs the way they deserve. Therefore, there should be responsibility to the state, people and law. This includes the fight against the shadow economy which will continue to be carried out. There are also two sides to it. A government official turning a blind eye to it and an entrepreneur doing it. This conspiracy must be completely destroyed, and it is being destroyed.”
“Today, the state does not turn a blind eye to this,” noted the Azerbaijani president. “Entrepreneurs must fully withdraw their businesses from the shadows. The state, our central executive bodies, demonstrating a special understanding, are gradually implementing this process, because those who do this have worked this way for decades, both in Soviet times and in the period of independence, and are used to it. This must be stopped. There should be no shadow economy – that’s all, it is very simple. True, it exists everywhere, in every country. Here it has reached an unacceptable level. To be honest, when I was presented with this analysis, I was horrified.”
“So this is being stopped,” Ilham Aliyev added. “How did tax and customs authorities collect more than 1 billion manats over the forecast last year? Previously, this money disappeared in someone’s pockets and the people of Azerbaijan were deprived of it. Having ensured this transparency, we were able to implement the social initiative I mentioned. Every single gapik of this money was spent on salaries, pensions, scholarships and benefits. This being the case, can we turn a blind eye to the shadow economy? Absolutely not! I repeat that the shadow economy must end and state bodies have established a transition period because it would be wrong to take extremely tough measures immediately.”
“People need to get used to it gradually,” said the Azerbaijani president. “But we cannot drag out this period of concessions indefinitely. Therefore, the entire economy should come out of the shadows and all entrepreneurs must pay taxes this year. If someone still tries to work according to the old rules or rely on someone after my words, let them know this: this will not work. There will be no concessions for anyone. Everyone should know this. Everyone is equal. There is not a single untouchable entrepreneur, not a single untouchable official. Everyone will receive their own assessment, reward and punishment for their deeds. You must know this.”
“I should also note that this positive process continues this year too,” Ilham Aliyev noted. “I haven’t been updated on the social and economic results of January yet. It takes some time. However, several figures have already been reported to me, including those related to the activities of tax and customs authorities in January. In particular, in January of this year, tax authorities collected 120 million manats and customs authorities 40 million manats in excess of the forecast. In other words, thanks to the fight against the shadow economy, 160 million manats were received in one month alone.”