BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 17
Trend:
We must take steps so as to ensure economic, macroeconomic stability, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev while making an opening speech at the meeting on the socio-economic results of the first quarter of 2020 through videoconference, Trend reports.
“I want to say once again that the impact of the pandemic on the economic situation is inevitable. We are already seeing it. Therefore, I ask the government, especially the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Economy, to review government spending and reduce non-priority spending. At the same time, it is necessary to apply the mechanism of rigorous control over spending. I expressed my opinion on this issue earlier. Recently, there has been a positive trend in this direction, as a result of which, both last year and in the three months of this year, we managed to transfer additional financial resources into the budget. But I think that there are still reserves, and it is necessary to review both investment and current expenses. Because sometimes running costs are inflated. In particular, unfortunately, the running costs of state organizations, state companies are inflated, so very serious attention should be paid to this area,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
The head of state noted that additional steps must be taken to ensure full transparency in this area.
“I believe that thanks to this, of course, we will maintain the stability of our financial and economic situation. At the same time, I am asking the government to find new sources of revenue. I want to say this again: there are reserves, there are ample reserves. Some of these reserves have already been identified recently, and budget revenues are growing - both last year and in 2020. Last year, more than one billion manats was transferred into the budget in excess of the forecast, and over three hundred million manats over the three months of this year. Therefore, it is necessary to seriously examine this issue and prepare proposals. I want to say this again: we do not know how much longer this situation will last. Therefore, we must take steps so as to ensure economic, macroeconomic stability. Of course, first of all, we need to solve the problems of citizens suffering from this situation, and we are solving them,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
He noted that major funds were allocated for this purpose, the state provides support to more than 600,000 people who have temporarily lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
“A significant part of the salaries of these people is paid by the state. At the same time, problems related to unemployment are being resolved and people who have lost their jobs are being registered collectively. We must be very careful in this so that there are no abuses. This applies to both citizens and government agencies. People who have truly lost their jobs or who are unemployed should be given assistance. As I was informed, the dynamics of appeals in recent days has been very high and this causes some doubts. State bodies have enough opportunities to study this issue so that people in need receive help from the state. I should also note that, on my instruction, the number of people receiving targeted social assistance has been increased in recent months. There are more than 70,000 such people now. Of course, each issue must be examined separately, common and understandable criteria should be applied, so that there are no doubts in this regard,” said President Ilham Aliyev.