BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25. Azerbaijan spent 807 million manat ($474.7 million) to combat the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said during a discussion of the bill "On the execution of the state budget of Azerbaijan for 2021" at a meeting of Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee of Azerbaijan’s Parliament (Milli Majlis), on May 25, Trend reports.
Despite the fact that last year 261 million manat ($153.5 million) was allocated to fight the pandemic, this amount was not enough, Sharifov said.
"An additional 266 million manat ($156.4 million) from the State Budget Reserve Fund and 280 million manat ($164.7 million) from the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund were allocated to combat the pandemic,” the minister noted.
“The allocated funds were mainly used to purchase vaccines and related medical equipment, special payments to doctors, volunteers, and other medical expenses," he added.