Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessing

..”If Azeris don’t show their concern, the officials who control the oil money will split it among themselves,” Garacayli explains in the living room of his small apartment. “The problem isn’t only that these people will pocket the money, but they also won’t invest it in the country.”

With oil revenues set to reach $160 billion over the next 20 years, the question of where the money will go and how it will be spent is one that seems to be on everyone’s mind in Azerbaijan these days. But economists inside and outside the country are warning that based on the problems Azerbaijan has had with combating large-scale corruption and in building solid democratic institutions, the oil revenue could end up being as much of a curse as a blessing.

Christian Science Monitor