Minister: State budget must be amended to avoid COVID-19 damage

By Akbar Mammadov

Changes in the state budget are needed to avoid the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov said on August 4.

Speaking at the meeting of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis), Sharifov said that the pandemic has exacerbated negative trends in the global economy. He added that the damage caused by the COVID-19 virus to the world and national economies is large-scale.

Furthermore, the minister said that the negative impact of the pandemic on the global economy has led to a deterioration of the country's balance of payments. “The quarantine regime introduced this year has resulted in a weakening of business in the country,” Sharifov noted.

Thus, he pointed out that in the first six months of this year, even the execution indicators of the state budget was implemented better than the project.

“It should be noted that although the execution of the state budget in the first half of the year was positive, macroeconomic indicators allow us to predict the emergence of financial problems in the second half. Declines are observed in most sectors of the economy. Therefore, the Ministry of Economy has reconsidered its forecasts in the new conditions,” said the minister.

Sharifov noted that oil prices are also being reconsidered while amending the state budget.

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Akbar Mammadov  is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

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