Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan will shift to summer time on March 29, with clocks moving forward one hour.

Azerbaijan's State Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Patents has announced that summer time begins at 04.00 a.m. on March 29, with clocks moving forward one hour to 05.00.

The decision of switching to summer or winter time is put into practice in major developed countries, as well as in the European countries. The transition to the summer or winter time is related to the economic, psychological and medical factors in the international practice and has been in place for 120 years in world.

Psychologists say the switching the time negatively affects the people’s health, as it takes two weeks to get accustomed to the new time.

On the other hand, this transition is associated with some economic factors. The main reason for this step is shown as the economic benefits.

Commenting on the issue, Vugar Bayramov, economic expert and chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Development said the main reason for this decision from an economic standpoint is the possibility to save power through transition to a new system and adaptation of citizens to the new season.

He noted the importance of switching to summer time in terms of energy saving, adding that according to the international standards during that period of time the country is saving energy consumption by 5 percent.

Bayramov considered this decision as a right step, saying that it is a practice that has been implemented and tested in Europe for a long time.

He went on to say that the implementation of this system in Azerbaijan has a positive effect regarding the adaption of workers’ mood to the change of the season, as well as increase of the productivity.

Since March 1997, Azerbaijan's Cabinet has been changing its official twice a year -- in the last Sunday of March at 04:00, clocks are moved forward one hour to mark the transition to summer time, and one hour back in the last Sunday of October at 05:00 to transition to winter time.

Bayramov said transition to the summer time creates conditions for the longer working hours in the service sector that stimulates an increase in revenues of the service sector businesses. He also noted that the agricultural sector also take benefit from switching to summer time and prolonged working hours.

The practice was first introduced in Europe during the First World War. The idea was to take advantage of the longest summer days by gaining an extra hour of daylight and shortening the days in winter.

The concept was actually brought by American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin, back in 1784. He then suggested that starting the day earlier in summer will save "a considerable number of candles".

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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