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Azerbaijanâ€™s 2008 state budget performance report sent to Milli Majlis

20 May 2009 13:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. A parliamentary commission on economic policy has today discussed the report on Azerbaijanâ€™s 2008 state budget performance.

According to the report submitted by Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, the 2008 state budget revenue amounted to AZN 10 762.7 million against the forecast of AZN 10 484 million, up 79.2% from the previous year.

The budget revenue-GDP ratio was 28.3%, up is 7.1 percentage points from the previous year.

The report said revenues came 52.9% (AZN 5 695.4 million) through the Ministry of Taxes and 10.3% (AZN 1 110.4 million) through the State Customs Committee. Receipts from the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) (AZN 3.8 billion) accounted for 35.3% of the total revenues.

Budget expenditures reached AZN 10 774.2 million against the forecast of AZN 11 060.6 million, up 77% from the previous year.

Of these, economic expenses were AZN 4 428.6 million, social expenses AZN 1 909.4 million, education expenses AZN 979.7 million, health care AZN 346.2 million , social protection and social security AZN 846.4 million, culture, art, information and other such categories AZN 140,2 million, defense spending 1 321.2 million , and funding for law enforcement and the judiciary 533.9 million.

Foreign debt service amounted to AZN 97 million against the forecast of AZN 132.1 million because not all of the planned amount of foreign loans was used and interest rates on foreign loans decreased in 2008.

Domestic debt repayment amounted to AZN 18.2 million, down 13.3% from the forecast.

The state budget deficit was AZN 11.5 million in 2008. To close the budget gap, AZN 182.7 million, including AZN 108.9 million from privatization of state property and AZN 73.8 million from the sale of securities was received and the treasury balance of state budget reached AZN 269.8 million as at January 1, 2009.

After discussion, the report was recommended for review at a plenary session of Milli Majlis.