Azernews.Az

The monthly turnover of electronic commerce in Azerbaijan could exceed 0.5 billion manats (over $0.63 billion), the founder of Golden Pay company says.

``Today, the monthly turnover of electronic commerce in the country stands at [only] 2 million manats,`` Farid Ismailzada told a recent seminar, ``Growth in non-cash payments and use of POS terminals``. ``The population is mainly interested in the purchase of equipment and other goods, payment of utilities, mobile operators, ISPs and so on, through the Internet.``

He said a tax holiday -- a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax -- for a specified period, for example, five years, which is widely used in the world, would promote development of this sector and growth of the e-commerce turnover.

``In addition, there are some voids in the legislation governing this sector,`` Ismailzada said. ``We are preparing proposals jointly with the ministries of economic development and communications and information technologies to address them.``

Akif Musayev, a department head at the Ministry of Taxes, said the government was ready to take the necessary measures for the development of e-commerce in the country.

``The share of e-commerce in the total trade turnover in the world is large. For example, it is at the level of 67 percent in Germany. In Azerbaijan, the figure is smaller, but this sector is developing,`` Musayev said, without citing the figure.