Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22
By Abbas Akhundov - Trend:
Milli Majlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan has approved the draft state budget for 2014. Some 102 MPs voted for the draft state budget, while two MPs votes against it.
No changes have been made to the main parameters of the state budget for the next year after parliamentary discussions.
According to Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, the income of the state budget for next year is forecasted at 18.384 billion manats (31.4 per cent of GDP forecasted for 2014) and expenses are projected at 20.063 billion manats (34.3 per cent of GDP).
It is expected that in 2014 the revenues will be below the forecasts of this year by 775 million manats, or four per cent, and will exceed the actual performance of 2012 by 1.103 billion manats, or 6.4 per cent.
Expenditures in 2014 will grow by 1.1 per cent compared to 2013, and by 15.2 per cent compared to the actual figure in 2012. The budget deficit is forecasted at 1.679 billion manats compared to the forecast for 2013 which stood at 691 million manats and to the actual figure for 2012 which stood at 135 million manats.
Consolidated budget revenues for 2014 were estimated at 21,986 billion manats, which exceeds the forecast for this year by 1.257 billion manats, or 6.1 per cent, and the actual performance of 2012 by 352.5 million manats or 1.6 per cent. The expenditures will amount to 24.444 billion manats, which is below the forecast for this year by 56 million manats, or 0.2 per cent, and exceeds the actual figures for 2012 by 5.982 billion manats, or 32.4 per cent.
Consolidated budget deficit is forecasted at 2.458 billion manats, which is 4.2 per cent of the projected GDP.
Official exchange rate for Nov. 22 is 0.7843 AZN/USD.