Tax revenues from Azerbaijan's regions exceed $387M
By Aynur Karimova
Tax revenues collected in the regions of Azerbaijan hit roughly 622 million manats ($387.7 million) in 2015.
This was announced by Taxes Minister Fazil Mammadov at a panel session on the tax sector as part of a conference dedicated to the results of the second year implementation of "The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018".
“A total of 86.6 million manats ($54 million) was collected in tax revenues in the regions in 2006. So we have a 7.2-fold increase.”
Over the past 10 years, the budget revenues transferred from the Taxes Ministry increased by 2.6 times, including from the non-oil sector - by 4.9 times.
Mammadov highlighted the work done under the state program. He hailed the positive changes taking place in the regions over the past 10 years, underlining the establishment of new enterprises, creation of jobs and state-of-the-art infrastructure.
“As a result of the work done in this field, the budget revenues have increased by 4.4 times, complex reforms have been carried out in the tax system, favorable business environment has been created for entrepreneurs and businessmen,” he added.
Mammadov also urged the heads of local executive authorities and entrepreneurs to work together with the relevant tax authorities to carry out a great job.
"Everyone knows that enough funds are allocated from the state budget to ensure continued and sustainable growth of the regions. But one should take into account the fact that these funds are formed mainly from tax revenues and transfers of the State Oil Fund. We should increase the revenue part of the budget to provide the sustainability of this process. But today's reality is that oil prices have dropped by four times for a year, and as this process can not be predicted, the revenues of the budget should be formed mainly from the tax revenues, and partly from the incomes from customs in the future," he added.
In 2015, the Taxes Ministry ensured the execution of the tax revenue collection forecast at 100.1 percent. Some 7.118 billion manats ($4.436 billion) was transferred to the state budget or by 4.5 million manats ($2.8 million) or 0.1 percent more than in 2014.
Under the law "On state budget for 2016", which was approved by President Ilham Aliyev in December last year, the budget revenues for the next year are projected at 14.566 billion manats ($9.08 billion), including centralized revenues - around 13.8 billion manats ($8.6 billion), local revenues - around 766.346 million manats ($477.62 million).
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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