Azerbaijan, Baku, November 16 / Trend, A. Akhundov /
In 2012, the expenditure of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) will be 10.82 billion manat, including 9.93 billion manat as it transfers to the state budget, said SOFAZ head Shahmar Movsumov speaking at a meeting to discuss the draft state budget.
The meeting included discussion on the consolidated budget for 2012 and of those for the following three years at joint Parliamentary group consultations on economic policy, social policy, defence and security, natural resources, energy and ecology and agrarian policy on Wednesday.
He said the remaining part will be spent on four major projects currently underway in the country. The bigger part of this money - 252 million manat, will be spent for the construction project of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the remainder will be 200 million manat for the reconstruction and irrigation of the Samur-Absheron canal. There will also be 110 million manat for the improvement of the living standards of refugees and the homeless and 15 million manat for the financing of Azerbaijani students' study in abroad.
The SOFAZ so far received $64 billion, of which $33 billion has been accumulated. Despite the accumulation ceiling of 25 per cent of total revenues, the figure has already exceeded 50 per cent. The share of money set aside for stockpiling will change from year to year.
Non-oil sector development is a priority in the country's economy and eventually will bring to a decrease of SOFAZ transfers to the state budget, Mr Movsumov said.
The State Oil Fund was established in 1999 with its assets equivalent to $271 million at the time. Under the Provision on SOFAZ, its assets can be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructural objects and for the solution of nationwide problems.
SOFAZ key objectives are as follows: assets accumulation and placement in abroad with the aim of minimisation of the negative impact on the economy; prevention, to a certain extent, of Dutch Elm Disease; provision of accumulation of assets for the next generations and financial support to current socioeconomic projects in the country.