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Azerbaijan discloses budgetary funds to fight against coronavirus

5 April 2020 15:15 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan discloses budgetary funds to fight against coronavirus

By Trend

The rent fee will not be charged from entrepreneurs for state property and state land in Azerbaijan until the end of this year, Executive Director of Azerbaijan’s Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication Vusal Gasimli told Trend.

“To increase the export of non-oil products, it is planned to accelerate the sale of goods with export bills and apply privileges on customs duties on customs clearance, control and issuance of permits (certificates),” Gasimli said.

“A new model of economic growth will be introduced in the post-pandemic period,” the executive director said. “Construction, mining, petrochemical industry, digital economy, transport, trade, logistics, telecommunications, domestic tourism, agriculture and processing industry will be the main priorities of the country’s economic policy.”

“The State Investment Holding will be established to manage the companies in the Single Center, increase transparency and economic efficiency of their activity, including investment programs, and ensure competitiveness,” Gasimli said. “A new privatization program will be developed."

“To create a new mechanism for the development and implementation of strategic projects in the construction sector, the Azerbaijan Construction Corporation will be created to accelerate the development of cities and districts,” the executive director added. “This corporation will ensure long-term management of the portfolio of strategic projects, the development of new projects, attracting investors and the implementation of a pilot project.”

"Some 280 million manat ($164 million) will be allocated for vital passenger transportation,” Gasimli said. “One of the main goals of supporting employment and social security is to prevent unjustified dismissal of 1,574,000 employees in the public and private sectors, as well as to keep the salaries of the employees who are on vacation."

The temporary employment of the unemployed will be ensured through the creation of 50,000 paid public jobs while a temporary allowance in the amount of 190 manat ($111) will be paid to 200,000 unemployed people within two months.

The self-employment program will cover 11,000 people and up to 20,000 people will receive the unemployment insurance benefits. The limit of monthly preferential electricity consumption by people will be increased by 100 kilowatts per hour in April and May. Some 40 million manat ($23 million) is envisaged for paying the training costs of students from the families belonging to the low income layers of the population.

Gasimli stressed that the latter sphere is called macroeconomic and financial stability. To implement the Action Plan with a big financial capacity, a new macroeconomic framework must be developed. In accordance with the changes in fiscal policy, monetary policy faces new challenges. Stability will be ensured in the financial and banking sector of the country.

"In general, the main objective of the Action Plan is to protect the population and entrepreneurs from the negative consequences of the pandemic, preserve the functionality of the economy and apply a new model of economic growth in the post-pandemic period,” the executive director said.

“Besides 2.5 billion manat ($1.5 billion) allocated upon the presidential decree in accordance with the Action Plan, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the State Social Protection Fund will also allocate 343.6 million manat ($202 million),” Gasimli added.

“Taking into account the donation worth 110 million manat ($57 million) to Azerbaijan’s Fund to Support Fight against Coronavirus and 10 million manat ($3 million) initially transferred to the Cabinet of Ministers, Azerbaijan’s budgetary funds envisaged for the crisis reaches three billion manat ($1.8 billion) or 12.3 percent of state budget revenues, which is 3.6 percent of GDP,” the executive director said.

“Moreover, the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan Republic sold funds worth $1.9 billion to stabilize the manat rate, the only currency that did not devalue during the crisis in the post-Soviet area in March 2020,” Gasimli said.

“Under the leadership of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan allocated the biggest share of GDP in the post-Soviet area to combat the crisis caused by the pandemic,” the executive director said. “The goal was to bring our country to a more advantageous position in the post-pandemic period."

(1 USD = 1.7 manat on April 5)

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