Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov 6 /Trend A.Akhundov/
Borrowing limit in the state budget for 2013 was reduced by 62.5 per cent, compared to the current year, Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov said during the discussion of the draft state budget for 2012 and the next three years at a joint meeting of the five parliamentary committees.
"The borrowing limit, decreased by 1.3 billion manat, or by 62.5 per cent compared to 2012, to 750 million manat in order to fulfill the instructions of the country's leadership on optimization of the rate of foreign loans in the country's GDP in 2013," Sharifov said.
Work on internal and external debt management, the timely implementation of commitments on loans will be continued in 2013. Measures to repay the loans, mainly at the expense of the organizations that have taken credit will also be carried out, the minister said.
"Some 781 million manat will be allocated from the state budget to service the public debt. It is a relatively large amount compared to previous years. It is due to the fact that paying interest on some loans will be launched along with the repayment of principal debt. Earlier Azerbaijan received loans from international financial institutions (especially the World Bank) on favorable terms, but now, with the change of the financial status of the country and the growth of per capita GDP, these organizations make changes in the schedule of repayment of loans," Sharifov said.
Official exchange rate on Nov 6 is 0.7849 AZN/USD