Government Needs More Than $ 3 Billion

The government has unveiled the need for foreign currency to cover the expenses stipulated in the 2017 draft state budget. The government needs 3 billion 61 million US dollars or 5 billion AZN in national currency, or a third of the state budget.

In view of financing the construction of TANAP by the Oil Fund the total amount of direct foreign exchange expenditures of the state will be at least $ 3.5 billion. The economist Rovshan Agayev believes the high amount of foreign currency liabilities of the government “makes the position of AZN even more fragile.”

According to Agayev, foreign exchange income of the consolidated budget for 2017 will be $ 5.4 billion, or 8.9 billion AZN. This means that 65% of foreign exchange earnings will go to cover the foreign currency obligations of the government. "In the best case, only $ 2 billion may be allocated to support the economy outside the government," the expert said.

According to Agayev, the main problem of the economy of Azerbaijan is that only 10% of foreign exchange earnings of the country are provided by the private sector. At the same time the private sector accounts for 80% of imports.    ----08D