Azerbaijan’s defence expenditures total $2.7bn in 2021
By Vugar Khalilov
Azerbaijan's defence and national security expenditures will be around $2.7 billion in 2021, Trend has reported, citing the Cabinet of Ministers.
The country spent AZN 4.54 billion ($.267 billion) of the AZN 4.58 billion ($2.69 billion) allocated from the state budget for these purposes in 2021, the report added.
In other words, defence and national security budget expenditures in 2021 increased by AZN 786.5 million ($462.9 million), or 20.9 percent over the previous year.
Azerbaijan's Finance Ministry forecasts the country's defence and security expenses to amount to AZN 4.4 billion ($2.64bn) in 2022.
Defence and security spending is expected to be AZN 4.4 billion ($2.64 billion) in 2022, AZN 4.5 billion ($2.69 billion) in 2023, AZN 4.6 billion ($2.74 billion) in 2024, and AZN 4.7 billion ($2.79 billion) in 2025.
In the structure of the functional classification of state budget expenditures for 2022, this field accounts for 15.5 percent of the total. Economic activity has the largest share of the classification (18.64 percent), followed by defence and national security, general government services (14.7 percent), education (12.9 percent), and social protection and welfare (12.9 percent) (12.4 percent).
It should be noted that the total state budget expenditures for the coming fiscal year are expected to be AZN 28.9 billion ($17 billion).
Previously, the ministry reported that Azerbaijan's defence and national security spending increased by 73.9 percent year on year to AZN 2.5 billion ($1.5 billion) in January-June 2021.
In 2020, Azerbaijan increased its defence and security spending by 31.6 percent. The draft law on the implementation of Azerbaijan's 2020 budget allotted 4.4 billion AZN ($2.6 billion) for defense and national security.
--