Revenues in the revised state budget are forecast at 16.766 billion Azerbaijani manats, which is 511 million manats or 3.1 percent more than the initially approved forecast. Expenditures are expected to stand at 17.941 billion manats, 1.041 billion manats or 6.2 percent more than the initial forecast. Deficit of the state budget is forecast to stand at 1.175 billion manats (an increase by 530 million manats), which accounts for 1.8 percent of the expected GDP of Azerbaijan in 2017.

Meanwhile, the uppermost limit on external loan has been elevated by 4 billion manats – up to 4.5 billion manats – in connection with the issue of Eurobonds by the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA).

According to Azerbaijan’s Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, the increase in the expenditure part of the state budget is related to allocation of additional funds to the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (540 million manats) and the state oil company SOCAR. Moreover, the Azerbaijani state will allocate four billion manats for restructuring the IBA’s foreign liabilities.

“The allocation of funds for restructuring the IBA’s foreign liabilities will significantly enhance the bank’s stability, strengthen its solvency and positively affect its further privatization,” noted the minister.

The increase in state expenditures, according to Sharifov, is also related to regulation of costs of maintenance of state-owned kindergartens, as well as the creation of financial support for new kindergartens in the cities and regions of the country. It is planned to allocate 58 million manats for these purposes.

It should be noted that the revenues of state budget amounted to 3.591 billion manats in 1Q17 as compared to the forecast of 3.473 billion manats, which means the overfulfilment of the forecast indicators by 3.4 percent.

In particular, revenues were 1.42 billion manats through the Taxes Ministry (exceeds the forecast by 3.8 percent) and 571 million manats through the State Customs Committee (exceeds the forecast by 17.5 percent). Therefore, the revenues through the Taxes Ministry are planned to increase by 135 million manats and through the State Customs Committee by 50 million manats. It is also envisaged to attract additional funds of 76 million manats through extrabudgetary revenues. Profit of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, worth 250 million manats, will also be included in the state budget’s revenue part.

According to the amendments, the revenues in the adjusted consolidated budget of Azerbaijan were approved at 22.84 billion manats for 2017, which exceeds the previously approved figure by 2.82 billion manats or 14.1 percent. Expenditures from the consolidated budget are forecast at 29.8 billion manats, which exceeds the previously approved figure by 1.05 billion manats or 3.7 percent.

More about: #Azerbaijan