BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 16. During today's session of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov emphasized the necessity of amending the proposed draft budget to accommodate increased expenditures in certain essential areas, including the suggestions made by deputies during the discussions, Trend reports.
Thus, these are the following changes:
- Increasing revenues from paid services of budgetary organizations and, accordingly, extra-budgetary expenditures to the amount of 40 million manat ($23.5 million);
- by mobilizing the potential of additional revenues, a number of legal entities of public law were recommended to ensure their expenditures not at the expense of the state budget but more at the expense of their own revenues. As a consequence, about 159 million manat ($93.5 million) of the freed-up funds were directed to additional financial provision of measures on further strengthening of defense and national security of the country. Thus, the total amount of expenditures on defense and national security in the state budget is brought to 8.5 billion manat ($5 billion) ;
- through optimization of expenses for the purchase of goods and services in budgetary organizations to additionally free up 36 million manat ($21.1 million) and increase expenditures in the following directions:
- to increase financial provision of Azerbaijani Parliament by additional 815,000 manat ($479,413);
- in accordance with the instruction of the Head of State to increase the initial projected funds for allocation of financial aid to political parties by 1 million manat, or 20 percent;
- increase expenditures on international activities in the state budget by 24 million manat ($14.1 million), including expenditures for the country's participation in the Expo-2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, in 2025;
- allocate 10 million manat to finance expenditures related to the promotion of the country's export and investment potential.
It became imperative to incorporate in the 2025 state budget the modifications pertaining to the delegation of authority from the State Energy and Water Resources Agencies of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to the joint stock companies “Azerenergy,” “Azerishig,” and the State Water Resources Agency, in accordance with the pertinent presidential decree of the Republic of Azerbaijan, along with associated expenditures. The subsidies designated for the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic from the centralized state budget are decreased by 34.8 million manat ($20.4 million), with an equivalent amount redirected to the financial assistance of the State Water Resources Agency.
Should the aforementioned proposed changes be adopted, the revenues and expenditures of the state and consolidated budgets for 2025 will rise by 40 million manat. Specifically, the state budget revenues will total 38.3 billion manat ($22.5 billion), expenditures will reach 41.4 billion manat ($24.3 billion), while the consolidated budget revenues will amount to 43.9 billion manat ($25.8 billion) and expenditures will be 47.6 billion manat ($28 billion).
The Minister emphasized that the state and consolidated budgets will maintain their current trajectory, with no alterations to the deficit as outlined in the original draft budget presentation.
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