Azerbaijan Vow to Pay Out Compensation for Lost Soviet-Era Savings

Azerbaijan will compensate depositors who lost their savings when the Soviet banking system collapsed two decades ago, according to a government decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev yesterday, Bloomberg reports.

People who held retail accounts at the Azeri branch of the Soviet Union’s savings bank can apply to Kapital Bank ASC for compensation by the end of this year, the government said in the decree, published by the country’s state news service Azartac.

The authorities will spend 400 million manat ($509 million) to 500 million manat to return 4.8 billion Soviet-era rubles of lost savings, said Qubad Ibadoglu, head of the Center for Economic Studies in the Azeri capital, Baku, citing the research group’s estimates.