Agriculture Ministry to transfer large farm loans to NFES
By Sara Israfilbayova
The leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture took the initiative to transfer the issue with the allocation of large loans to the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support (NFES) under the Economy Ministry.
The Agriculture Ministry does not plan to issue large concessional loans to businessmen engaged in the agro-industrial sector.
Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov made the remarks at a conference dedicated to the results of fourth year implementation of “The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018” in Baku.
According to the minister, during the last State Program, the agency was limited to the allocation of microcredits, and for the entire four-year period, the total volume of allocated loans did not exceed 10 million manats ($5.88 million).
“The loans allocated to entrepreneurs in the agricultural sphere did not exceed 15,000-20,000 manats ($8,800-11,700),” Asadov said.
Asadov went on to say that, lending of preferential loans through the NFES is successful, and as a result, the issuance of large loans by two different departments can lead to undesirable situations.
The implementation of the State Program on socio-economic
development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in
2014-2018 is an important part of the country’s sustainable social
and economic development strategy.
The regional development of the country is an important component
of sustainable socio-economic development carried out successfully
in the country. Implementation of the tasks set forth in the state
programs adopted and successfully carried out in the field of
regional development, as well as in the orders on the additional
measures concerning the socio-economic development of the regions
paved way for sustainable development of non-oil sector,
improvement of the quality of public services and social
infrastructure in regions, further improvement of the business
environment, increase of the flow of investment, creation of new
enterprises and jobs, increase of employment and poverty
reduction.
Moreover, Azerbaijan tries its best to diversify the national economy on the basis of further development of the non-oil sector.
The government does everything possible to encourage business doing in the country and to support entrepreneurs through creating necessary conditions for the development of a healthy business environment.
So, the Azerbaijani government has extended the moratorium of on inspections of business activities until 2021.
During the period of the law’s validity, only tax audits, quality control of medicines by relevant executive authorities, verification of compliance with safety regulations and safety control of food products, as well as checks on cases that threaten the health and life of people, national security and economic interests may be carried out.
The inspection of entrepreneurs’ activities in Azerbaijan has been suspended for the period of two years from November 1, 2015.
Moreover, in order to support entrepreneurship the government creates many other conditions as, issuance of the investment incentives documents following the approval of amendments proposed to the Tax Code of the country.
Under the investment incentives document, half of the revenue of an individual entrepreneur, profits of legal entity are exempted from income tax for seven years. Import of equipment for the implementation of the projects is also exempt of VAT and customs duties.
Also, the state refunds 3-6 percent of the customs value of goods to non-oil exporters within the framework of mechanisms on promoting exports of non-oil products.
It is also planned to create the Agency of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Guarantee Credit Fund in 2017-2018.
Thus, the government of Azerbaijan makes huge efforts to stimulate business development in the country through introducing privileges for entrepreneurs.
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