Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

The Accounting Chamber of Azerbaijan has discussed a bill on amendments to the state budget for 2016 and the budget of the State Social Protection Fund.

The Chamber reported that during the discussions the participants were informed about Azerbaijan's current macroeconomic situation, which led to the revision of the state budget, as well as the main directions of revenue and expenditure, budget deficit and the financing sources.

The meeting also considered reports over the changes to the budget of the State Social Protection Fund for 2016.

Taking into account that both bills were developed in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, the Board of the Accounting Chamber decided to submit its comments on the documents to the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

Under the amendments to the state budget for 2016, which were submitted to the consideration of the Parliament, the budget revenues are projected at 16.822 billion manats ($10.6 billion), while budget expenditures - at 18.495 billion manats ($11.65 billion).

The budget deficit will amount to 1.673 billion manats ($1.05 billion). Thus, the revenue part of the state budget will be increased by 15.5 percent, while the expenditure part - 13.7 percent.

Transfers from the Taxes Ministry will increase by 6.2 percent - to 7.01 billion manats ($4.42 billion), and the State Customs Committee - by 13.8 percent - to 1.81 billion manats ($1.14 billion).

Transfers from the country's state oil fund SOFAZ will be increased by 1.615 billion manats ($1.02 billion), or 26.9 percent, and amount to 7.615 billion manats ($4.796 billion). As a result, transfers from SOFAZ will provide 45.3 percent of the revenue part of the state budget for 2016. Other budget revenues will increase by 13 million manats ($8.2 million) and amount to 75 million manats ($47.24 million).

The parameters of the state budget were revised given the price of oil at $25 per barrel. Forecasts of the approved budget were based on oil prices of $50 per barrel.

Earlier, the budget revenues for 2016 were projected at 14.566 billion manats ($9.17 billion), while budget expenditures - at 16.264 billion manats ($10.24 billion).

The budget deficit was approved in the amount of 1.698 billion manats ($1.07 billion).

External debt

Azerbaijan's Finance Ministry reported on February 17 that as of January 1, 2016, the country's external public debt amounted to $6.894 billion, which accounts for 19.8 percent of the country's GDP.

The statistics on the loans included direct obligations of the state and contingent liabilities on loans under state guarantee.

Of the total volume of borrowings, some 58.6 percent will be paid off within 10 years, 32.9 percent - from 10 to 20 years, and 8.5 percent - for a period exceeding 20 years.

As of January 1, the currency structure of loans is as follows: 8.8 percent of funds were attracted to the SDR (Special Drawing Rights of the IMF), 66.3 percent - in U.S. dollars, 20.4 percent - in euros, 2.5 percent - Japanese yen, 0.8 percent - UAE dirham, 0.6 percent - the Islamic dinar, 0.4 percent - Saudi Arabian riyal and 0.2 percent - Kuwaiti dinar.

The funds, which were mainly attracted from the World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financial institutions, were sent to support the economic reform programs, rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure, including the construction and rehabilitation of power plants, construction of roads, improvement of water supply of regions, the development of services in the sphere of aviation and railways, as well as industry and energy.

The official exchange rate on February 19 was 1.5635 AZN/USD.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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