Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.30 / Trend , K.Zerbaliyeva /
An Azerbaijiani MP called a presidential decree annulling the population's gas debt a great New Year's gift today.
"This decree should be commended. The population's gas debt is quite large. Writing off the debt is a big holiday gift for the population," MP Hadi Rajabli told Trend .
Aliyev decided to annul the population's gas debts worth 327 million manat to Azerigas as of Oct. 1, 2009 to strengthen social protection and regulate natural gas consumption costs.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic will receive compensation equal to the debts written off from the 2009 state budget.
"Often people think about social protection as wage increases. But annulling the debts of the population is an important step to strengthen social protection," he said.