Consultant to be involved to make postal services in Azerbaijan more profitable

The results of the project development of financial services, implemented by Azerbaijani postal operator LLC Azerpoct, the country's Central bank and the World Bank have not given the expected results yet, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov told journalists on Saturday.

"Nevertheless, Azerpoct's income has increased by 23 percent last year, there are some problems to support the profitability of Azerpoct's activity," Abbasov noted. "In addition, the operator still gets subsidies from the state."
According to Abbasov, the Ministry of Communications and IT is negotiating with the Central bank and the Finance Ministry about further prospects Azerpoct's activity.

"We will involve a consulting company to solve this issue if necessary," Abbasov noted.
The total cost of the project "Development of financial services", the main component of which was upgrading the country's postal network, makes up $17.5 million, of which $12.25 million accounts for the World Bank loan, and the rest for the Azerbaijani government.

The Swiss government has also rendered technical assistance for $612,000 to implement the project.
The project, which started in 2005, provided for reduction of Azerpoct in compliance with the requirements for managing risks emerging in the provision of financial services. The national postal operator licensing is to be expected.

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