Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s parliament on Thursday approved the 2010 state budget considering some of the proposals made by the lawmakers during prior discussions.
Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said in his remarks that the government had reviewed the suggestions voiced by the Milli Majlis members during the latest debate in the legislature. As a result, a decision was passed to increase the budget 20 million manats ($25 million) to 12.636 billion manats ($15.795 billion). The increase will be funded on account of extra revenues of the State Oil Fund (SOFAR), the body that holds Azerbaijan’s revenues from crude exports. The amount will be spent to address environmental issues facing the country.
The minister said that, upon the MPs’ proposals, the government also introduced some changes to the budgetary expense structure. The funds designated for several areas have been raised. Thus, spending on science has increased 3m manats ($3.75m), while that on healthcare – 4m manats ($5m), and extra 6.3m manats (over $7.8m) will be channeled into expenses on culture. Also, the funds earmarked for the salaries of parliament members and Foreign Ministry employees have increased 458,000 manats and 580,000 manats respectively ($572m and $725m).
Overall, 13.3m manats of the 14.3m manats slated for various fields have been designated for social expenses, according to the lawmakers’ proposals. However, this does not mean that budgetary expenses have risen, the finance minister said.
"These funds will be derived from the amount designated for currency conversion in the service article of the budget," he said.
The budget of the State Social Security Fund was also endorsed at the parliamentary session.
The subsistence minimum of the population was approved at 87 manats ($108), while the minimum physiological needs - at 65 manats ($81).*