BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 29
Trend:
Due to the difficulties caused by the occupation of our territories by Armenia, Azerbaijan was receiving humanitarian aid from the international community during the early period of its independence, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said making a speech in a video format at the meeting of Heads of State and Government on “Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond”, Trend reports.
“Later Azerbaijan itself became a donor country. Overall, Azerbaijan provided financial and humanitarian assistance to nearly 120 countries during the last 15 years,” the head of state said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on all the countries of the world. Millions of people are expected to be pushed back into extreme poverty. The pandemic has affected our economy as well. Despite the decrease in the state revenues during the pandemic period, the government has allocated funds around 3% of GDP to the protection of jobs, economic growth, and public health,” the head of state said.
President Ilham Aliyev said that in order to counter the negative impact of the pandemic the socio-economic stimulus package worth over 2 billion USD has been released to ensure economic stability, tackle unemployment issues, and ensure macroeconomic and fiscal stability.
“The social relief measures cover nearly 5 million people, which is half of our population. Funding for the fight against the pandemic was provided only from domestic sources, without any external financial support. In addition, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian and financial assistance to more than 30 countries with respect to COVID-19,” the head of state said.