It always seemed odd to me that a country like Azerbaijan with small area/population and underdeveloped tourism sector has 6 international airports. To add insult to the injury, the government recently announced the construction of another international airport in Fuzuli. There are even rumors of one more airport to be built in Kalbajar in the near future. Considering all these, I decided to take the specific example of Zagatala and showcase why such projects are likely to bring minimal benefit at best.

Continue reading “Story of the Unflown Airport – Zagatala International Airport” →

The Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan recently announced the proposal for the amendments to the 2020 state budget. The move comes as no surprise, given the current economic climate. However, there is much to discuss in amendments, particularly concerning the State Oil Fund and the Budget Rule…

Continue reading “Amendments to the 2020 State Budget of Azerbaijan” →

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected almost every sector of the global economy in the first five months of 2020. To add insult to injury, the economy of Azerbaijan has been further pressured by the historically low oil prices. In this post, I decided to take a brief look at the oil sector of Azerbaijan today and its potential implications for us in the near future.

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In my latest post, I delved into the topic of Azerbaijani Manat’s grim-looking short-term future following the surging demand for foreign exchange in March and concluded that there is a substantial risk of devaluation during 2020. In this post, I am going to share a concept on how the government can at least delay this devaluation for the near future and avoid exacerbating the economic situation in the country already troubled by coronavirus epidemic…

Continue reading “An Unlikely Hero – How Gold Can Aid Manat?” →

Many of the social, economic and political problems of Azerbaijan can be explained by a multitude of factors. In my opinion, above all, we must recognize the impact of the education system. Therefore, I decided to dedicate my next couple of posts to the national education policy.

Continue reading ““Free” Education of Azerbaijan” →

As a broad term, fiscal policy refers to the management of taxes and expenditures by governments. It is certainly the number one tool that the governments utilize to intervene into the national economy. That intervention, on the other hand, should have definite restraints, which brings us to the topic of fiscal rules…

Continue reading “Fiscal Rule of Azerbaijan: A Positive First Step?” →

State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) without a doubt plays a major role in the national economy. Created in 2000, the Fund’s vital role in Azerbaijan motivated me to share my thoughts on the matter…

Continue reading “State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan – A Disoriented SWF” →

One of the most predominant principles of international trade is the comparative advantage theory, developed by the British economist David Ricardo in the early 19^th century. To put it simply, the theory argues that a country can boost its welfare if it specializes in certain products in which it has comparably lower cost of production (in other words, lower opportunity cost) and then trade with others. Keeping this principle in mind, one may wonder, in which products Azerbaijan can have comparative advantage and how can we use that to maximize our national well-being?

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When the global economy was facing a relentless recession in 2008 – 2009 period, Azerbaijani economy was still doing well enough with annual GDP growth of ~10%. Naturally, one may wonder, how come Azerbaijani economy did not went under a recession (or at least stagnation of economic growth) if there was a global crisis going on?

Continue reading “How much is Azerbaijan integrated into the world?” →