Finance

Finance

Azerbaijan parliament proposes to set oil price forecast at $55-$60/barrel

04 November 2009 17:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. The joint session of the parliamentary Committees on Science and Education, Culture and Regional Issues has today discussed the State Budget Bill for 2010.

Shamsaddin Hajiyev, chairman of the Committee on Science and Education, said that the state budget is based on real facts.

According to him, the estimated budget deficit of AZN 1.2 billion is the first widest one over the past five years.

"Nevertheless, there are enough internal and external reserves to close the budget gap,â€ he added.

He noted that AZN 1 276 billion will go to education and AZN 100 million to science in 2010.

Fazil Farajov, budget officer of the Ministry of Finance, briefed the participants about the details of the budget.

Vagif Hssanov, auditor of the Accounting Chamber, said there is a need to set up a mechanism for spending the funds allocated for science.

In their speeches, MPs proposed building the 2010 state budget on the oil price forecast of $55-$60/barrel, compared to $70 in 2009.

However, the draft budget for 2010 has been prepared with the oil price forecast of $45/barrel.