Can it be and worse?

An American writer and author of the book “The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations” Prof. Michael L. Ross worries about possible economic consequences of the upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan.

“To make themselves more popular”, he says, governments “often spend vast amounts of money during election years, which causes their economies to suffer once the election is over….”

Ross said that countries which have more oil tend to have governments that are more secretive, often hiding corruption.

“In Azerbaijan, the problem is even worse than in many other oil-rich countries. Not only is there a lack of transparency in the central government’s budget, but a lot of money is spent through SOCAR, which is even less transparent”, he added.

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