State investment expected to exceed $9.3 bln in 2014
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan expects the state investments to hit 7.37 billion manats ($9.39 billion) in 2014, according to the draft state and consolidated budget for 2014 and the next three years, published by the Ministry of Finance.
The government plans to allocate 6.26 billion manats from the state budget, 1.11 billion manats more will be delivered through external borrowing and 1.92 billion from Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ.
Around 4.74 billion manats of these funds are to be spent on infrastructure projects and 1.86 billion manats on social projects. Another 775 million manats will be spent on the reconstruction of areas, the elimination of the consequences of emergencies, as well as institutional and other projects.
According to the priorities of the country's socio-economic development, in 2014 public investments will primarily focus on the completion of current projects in the industry, transport, energy and agriculture sectors, construction and restoration of art and cultural facilities, defense, protection of national security and of Azerbaijan's borders, as well as projects envisaged by various programs. Also, the construction, repair and renovation of sports facilities required in connection with holding the first European Olympics in the country is to be carried out.
According to forecasts, the investment volume is expected to go down in the coming years. For example, the state investment program amount is projected at 5.24 billion manats in 2015 and 4.66 billion and 4.18 billion manats in 2016 and 2017.
According to the State Statistics Committee, around 10.4 billion manats were invested from all sources in the development of the economic and social areas of Azerbaijan in January-August 2013, which is 22.7 percent more than in the same period of last year. This indicates sustainable investment activity in the country.
In particular, around 1.6 billion manats were invested in the Azerbaijani economy in August 2013. Until 2015, we will observe a steady increase in investment in capital construction because of the growth of building, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in preparation for the first European Games due in Azerbaijan in 2015.
The main sources of investments in January-August 2013 include funds of enterprises and organizations, worth over 4.309 billion manats, budgetary funds, worth over 4.864 billion manats, as well as non-budget funds (370.7 million manats), bank loans (552.7 million manats), and funds of the population (255.3 million manats).
From 2003 to 2013, some 109.8 billion manats ($131.9 billion) were invested in Azerbaijan's economic development and the implementation of various social and infrastructure projects.
The volume of investments in the country's economy has increased more than five-fold and those in the non-oil sector surged 14-fold as compared to 2003.
The official exchange rate for October 17 is 0.7843 manats (AZN) per USD.