Sir, Regarding your report "Azerbaijan sets capital controls as economic crisis grows” (January 20) on the recent changes to financial exchange regulations in Azerbaijan: I would like to reassure your readers that foreign investors will not be negatively affected by these changes.
Non-resident investors will continue to freely execute any trade or other transactions, export and import activities and have the rights to perform foreign exchange transactions through bank offices in support of such transactions. All so-called current transactions still enjoy the same treatment. Cash/hard currency importation into Azerbaijan in excess of $50,000 equivalent is subject to reporting to the financial monitoring service. Repatriation of 100 per cent of a non-resident investment into Azerbaijan plus profit made on that investment after payment of all taxes (mainly a 20 per cent profit tax and a 10 per cent withholding tax) has been guaranteed to foreign investors by the law on the protection of foreign investments.
The 20 per cent levy that will be imposed by a revised Foreign Exchange Regulation law is not applicable to foreign investors. Only non-residents who are unable to identify the source of hard currency income in excess of $50,000 will be subject to the imposition of such a levy on hard currency transfers for the purposes of registering outward investment, acquisition of ownership and so on.
Tahir Taghizadeh
Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UK
(Financial Times)
www.ann.az
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