Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government has praised the country's rampant economic development in 2007.
The document presented to the Milli Majlis (parliament) by Prime Minister Artur Rasizada on Friday cited growth in numerous fields achieved as a result of the successful state policy pursued last year.
Rasizada said Gross Domestic Product has increased 2.3 times in the past four years, while GDP per capita - 3.4 times, the population's income 2.5 times, average monthly wages 2.8 times, and state budget revenues 4.9 times. The country's strategic currency reserves including the State Oil Fund means exceeded $7.2 billion.
Rasizada noted that social security payments, minimum wages and the salaries of persons working for state-funded organizations, and monthly allowances paid to internally displaced persons increased by up to 50% in 2007.
The premier said the key objective facing the Azerbaijani government was poverty reduction. A relevant program has been developed and the poverty level is expected to equal that of the world's developed countries by 2015.
Rasizada said that as a result of socially-oriented activities, the poverty rate went down from 45% in 2003 to just 16% in 2007.
He said improving the living standards of IDPs was in the focus of the government last year. 30 settlements with the necessary infrastructure have been built in the past four years for 41,000 displaced persons who used to live in seven make-shift camps.
Rasizada said inflation's reaching 16.7% last year was one of the areas of concern for the government. The main reasons for the hike were the economic processes under way around the world in recent years, as well as rising prices for crude, food and other products, which boosted prices for imported goods. Inflationary increases were also caused by the rising state expenditure on numerous social and infrastructure projects, rising purchasing power of citizens and swiftly increasing money in circulation.
Rasizada said another key task of the government was to ensure that the growth rate of the population's income exceeds inflation. As a result of the measures taken, citizens' income was 2.4 times above the consumer price index in 2007, and the tendency will be preserved this year.
Assessing the government's performance in 2007, MP Ali Masimli said that rampant growth has increased economic risks and the government should pay particular attention to addressing the problem. "Along with high economic growth rate, the inflation rate should be of concern for the government."
An MP from opposition Musavat party Panah Huseyn maintained that the government had failed to solve the country's pressing problems last year and the report consisted of "a ferry tale of figures". He claimed that despite the [high] indicators cited, the living standards of people worsened in Azerbaijan last year. Only 80,000 jobs were opened instead of the official figure of 640,000. Armenian occupation of Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts continued in 2007.
"Incumbent authorities should therefore resign and the Cabinet of Ministers be formed anew. There are no grounds to confide in the current administration," the lawmaker alleged.
Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov regarded the suggestion to mistrust the government as political populism, noting that the opposition was failing to appreciate the prolific work being done in the country.
"I believed that a substantial analysis of the government's activity would be put forth at least this year. But it is evident that the opposition has not changed its image-makers. Our opposition representatives see everything in dark colors."
After the discussions, the parliament generally assessed the government's report as satisfactory.