2013 budget draft to be submitted to parliament Nov. 30
By Seymur Aliyev
Azerbaijan's parliament has instructed the government to finalize drafting the 2013 state budget with the consideration of proposals by members of the legislature.
After three-day discussions on the draft budget for 2013 and the following three years, Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov said Thursday that necessary changes will be made to the draft budget within 15 days, and it will be submitted to the Milli Majlis for approval on November 30.
Revenues of next year's budget are projected at 19.154 billion manats ($24.4 billion), or 34.2 percent of the gross domestic product projected for 2013, while expenses - at 19.81 billion manats ($25.23 billion), or 35.2 percent of GDP.
The budget package includes the draft laws on 2013 state budget, 2013 budget of the State Social Protection Fund, the cost of living, estimates of expenses for the parliament and the Accounting Chamber in 2013, etc.
During the discussions, Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev said the share of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan's GDP will surpass 70 percent over the medium term.
Mustafayev also said investments in the Azerbaijani economy from all sources will amount to 71.8 billion manats ($91.4 bln) in 2013-2016. Some 32.7 billion manats will be invested in the country's economy, including 21 billion manats in infrastructure projects and 8.7 billion manats in transportation projects.
Mustafayev emphasized that Azerbaijan expects a 30.1 percent growth in the domestic production of construction materials in 2013 and over the following three years it is expected to grow 36.9 per cent on average per year.
"This growth is due to an expected launch of new enterprises for production of cement, metalware and other construction materials in 2013," he said.
In turn, Ziyad Samadzade, chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic policy, said the total volume of Azerbaijan's GDP will reach $71 billion in 2013, an eight-fold increase compared to 2003.
"The GDP growth rate in 2013 is projected at 5.3 percent, which will be achieved mainly by growth of the non-oil sector," Samadzade noted.
In 2013-2016 the domestic engineering industry will grow by 7.3 percent per year on average.
A 4.4 percent growth is expected in food production in 2013, and in the following three years average growth is projected at 4.9 percent per year.
A 5.1 percent growth is projected in the agriculture sector, forestry and fish production in 2013, and in the following three years it is expected to average 5.3 percent per year.