11:45 - 11.10.2021

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October 11, Fineko/abc.az. Despite the recent easing of the quarantine regime, problems for entrepreneurs in a number of sectors of the economy still remain. Thus, importers of alcoholic beverages have not been able to receive excise stamps from the Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan for two months.

In accordance with the current legislation the import of alcoholic beverages without excise stamps is prohibited.

ABC.AZ reports that entrepreneurs expressed their dissatisfaction with this and say that no organization is interested in this issue, and this situation continues to have negative impact on their business. They claim that Azerbaijan has run out of excise stamps on alcoholic beverages for import.

"The Finance Ministry cannot provide entrepreneurs with excise stamps. And this creates problems in the import of our alcoholic beverages. In this case, budget revenues will also be reduced," the entrepreneurs stated.

ABC.AZ has sent a request to the Ministry of Finance on the occasion. For 11 days now we have been waiting for a response from Ministry’s press secretary Mais Piriyev, but the representative of the department is not in a hurry to answer yet.

It should be noted that over Jan-Aug of this year Azerbaijani entrepreneurs imported alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and vinegar for $51.408 million in our country. According to the report published by the State Customs Committee, this is by $7.779 million (17.8%) more versus Jan-Aug 2020.

Over the reporting period the import of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and vinegar made up 0.7% of Azerbaijan's total imports. During the pandemic the entrepreneurs imported excisable alcoholic beverages at the above-said prices, which means that if the Ministry and the relevant authorities had taken the necessary measures in a timely manner, the contribution of entrepreneurs to our economy would have been much greater.

As you know, the quarantine regime is gradually softening, and the absence of excise stamps currently binds entrepreneurs hand and foot.

Next week we will try to contact other relevant government agencies on this issue. We hope that the problem will be solved soon, and our entrepreneurs, as before, will continue to contribute to our economy.

By Elmir Murad