BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 22. In accordance with the orders of the head of state to preserve social welfare, real incomes and purchasing power of the population, the minimum wage, minimum pension, 16 social benefits, and salaries of employees of organizations financed from the state budget have been increased only for the last two years, the Azerbaijani Finance Ministry said in Trend reports.
The Azerbaijani Finance Ministry prepared a document titled "Preliminary Indicators of State and Consolidated Budgets for 2024".
"In order to ensure the welfare of citizens and strengthen social protection for sensitive groups of the population, additional funds of 1.5 billion manat ($882.3 million) have been allocated from the state budget for the increase of minimum wages and social payments in 2022 and 836.3 million manat ($491.9 million) in 2023," the ministry said.
The Finance Ministry noted that as a result of measures implemented by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan within its authority to reduce inflation, anti-inflationary measures of the government, as well as relative reductions of prices for goods, especially food products, lower inflation in the main trading partner countries, and other global trends, in Azerbaijan from January through July 2023 there was a slowdown in inflation at the level of 1.7 percentage points to the beginning of the year, which is 0.8 percentage points lower year-on-year.
"Despite the decline in inflation in the country, high volatility of the external environment (further aggravation of the geopolitical and geo-economic situation in the world, disruption of international logistics chains, expectations that inflation in many countries will remain above target levels, as well as climate change and other negative external shocks) may lead to additional price growth," the ministry added.
The Azerbaijani Ministry also noted that, on the other hand, it should be taken into account that under conditions of high inflation, a large-scale increase in budget expenditures may further increase inflationary pressure and provoke the emergence of an inflationary spiral in subsequent years.