Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 16
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
The Legislative Chamber of Uzbekistan's Oliy Majlis (lower house of the parliament) approved the country's state budget for 2014, a message of the parliament's press service said on Nov. 15.
The draft state budget was previously discussed at a meeting of political parties and the deputy group of the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, a number of committees of the Legislative Chamber with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Finance and other ministries and authorities, the message said.
The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Rustam Azimov told journalists that the parameters of the state budget are developed taking into account the 8.1 per cent GDP growth, 8.3 per cent industrial production growth, six per cent increase in agricultural production and increase in capital investment by 9.5 per cent, which are planned for 2014.
The message provides no data on the percentage of the revenue and expenditure sides of the state budget to the planned GDP. However, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mubin Mirzayev said earlier at the meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Budget and Economic Reforms that the revenue side of the budget is planned to be provided at the amount of 21 per cent of the GDP's planned volume, whereas expenditures are planned to be provided in the amount of 22 per cent.
According to Rustam Azimov, the main financial document of the country for the next year has a clear social orientation. The budget's revenue side envisages reduction of the basic rate of income tax for legal entities from nine to eight percent, which will allow leaving some 132 billion soums at the disposal of enterprises. In general, the tax burden on the economy is planned to be reduced in 2014 by 0.5 per cent.
It is planned to reduce the minimum rate of income tax scale from 8 to 7.5 per cent in physical entities' income tax.
The expenses on social sphere and social support of the population in expenditure budget will hit 59.6 per cent compared to 59.3 per cent in 2013. The expenses for social benefits, financial assistance to low-income families, as well as compensation payments are planned to hit 1.4 per cent of GDP.
The draft budget-2014 envisages an increase in salaries of employees of budgetary organizations, pensions, scholarships and allowances given the inflation level.
The volume of centralized investments financed from the state budget will amount to 1.5 trillion soums or one per cent of GDP.
It is planned to allocate the funds worth 0.5 percent of GDP to co-finance the program for the construction of individual housing on the model projects in rural areas, envisaging the construction of 11,000 houses in 2014.
The expenditure on education in 2014 will amount to 7.5 per cent of GDP, health care - 3.1 percent, science - 0.1 percent of GDP, or 1.2 times more than in 2013, economy - 2.4 per cent of GDP.
It is planned to create 983,600 new jobs due to the further development of small business and private entrepreneurship, expansion of various forms of domestic labor and family entrepreneurship in 2014.
The state budget, approved by the Legislative Chamber, is submitted to the Senate (the upper house of the parliament). The plenary session is scheduled for December 12-13. The state budget must be finally approved at a meeting of the Senate (the upper house of the parliament) of Uzbekistan on December 12-13.
The official exchange rate is 2.182.90 soums/$1.