The Azeri Government is alarmed by the predicted abrupt cutting of world prices for crude oil. (As it is known, export of crude oil provides the lion’s share of return to the Azeri state exchequer.) Judging from the moods of Baku mass media, the situation is close to panic. Newspapers write, “Azerbaijan is on the verge of the next economic crisis” and forecast throwing the country back to “the hard times” of 1998, when Azerbaijan went through an unprecedented energetic crisis. The expected cut of world prices for crude oil is due to the new policy of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is ready to reduce prices to ten U.S. dollars for a barrel and even lower to make Russia decrease oil export. “Reduction of the price to ten U.S. dollars for a barrel can be qualified as a catastrophe for the Azeri economy and entire society, as all fiscal obligations of the entire budget will be undermined on the spot,” – prominent economist, professor Nazim Imanov stated in an interview to “Zerkalo” newspaper. In his words, serious problems with social payments: salaries, pensions, compensations, etc. will emerge in that situation. The expert considers if OPEC implements its decision, “it will be equal to a collapse for Azerbaijan.”
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