Finance Ministry submits draft 2014 state budget to Cabinet
By Gulgiz Dadashova
Azerbaijan's Finance Ministry has submitted a draft state budget for next year to the Cabinet, the ministry said on September 18.
The draft is expected to be submitted to the Presidential Administration by September 25 before being taken to the Milli Majlis, or parliament, for approval.
The government calculated the state budget for 2014 based on a crude oil price of $90 per barrel, down from $100 per barrel this year.
The modernization of priority spheres of the economy and its diversification will be the focus of the national budgets for 2014 and the following three years, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said in July. The government will continue the policy of improving the investment climate and increasing budget revenue from non-oil sources, he said.
Azerbaijan expects its economy will grow by 5 percent this year and 6.7 percent in 2014, Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev said earlier this month.
Gross domestic product expanded 5 percent in the first seven months of 2013, up from 1.6 percent the same period last year. The non-oil economy grew 10.5 percent, the State Statistics Committee said on its website last month.