Wages, pensions have been recently increased in Azerbaijan thanks to the government’s social policy, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Jan.26.

The president made the remarks at the conference dedicated to outcomes of the second year of implementation of the “State Program on socio-economic development of districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018”.

The head of state said though all efforts have been made to stabilize the exchange rate of manat, the decline in oil prices four times and the devaluation of national currencies of neighboring countries made it impossible to stabilize manat’s rate.

“However, it should be taken into account that there is a market economy in Azerbaijan. Social policy and deep economic reforms will allow us to overcome this situation,” said Aliyev.

The year 2016 will be the Year of deep economic reforms in Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said, noting that a number of orders and decrees will be signed in order to boost the country’s economy.

The president said as many as 25 power plants have been built in Azerbaijan over the last twelve years.

“In 2004, there was almost no gas in districts. We used to buy foreign gas until 2007. Today, gasification in Azerbaijan has reached 90 percent. We provided gas to the remotest places that had not seen gas in the Soviet period. Gasification in districts accounts for 80 percent. Over recent years, 12km-long roads have been constructed. Highways have been constructed to connect us with other countries. Rural roads are also being constructed. For this purpose, extra amounts of funds will be allocated this year too. On the other hand, people need to be provided with fresh water for 24 hours a day. Efforts are underway in this regard,” the president said.

The head of state noted that there are about 5,000 schools in Azerbaijan. 3,000 schools have been built over the last 12 years.

“Salaries have increased five times and pensions seven times over the last 12 years. 89 IDP camps have built constructed and 225,000 people placed in new houses. Imagine that we have created a big city. On the other hand, we have given entrepreneurs 1.7 billion preferential loan over the past period. Azerbaijan has received 200 billion dollars of foreign investment over the 12 years. If there had been no stability, would there have been so much investment in Azerbaijan?,” said Aliyev.

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