State Budget 2017 is the worst in 10 years, expert

The draft state budget for 2017 shows that this is one of the worst budget in the past 10 years, said on Friday, the famous economist Gubad Ibadoglu  during public discussions in the draft budget public hearings for the coming year. According to Turan, Ibadoglu said that to the discussion was invited  one-third of deputies, but none of them, even the members of the relevant committee, did not come.  There are six months until the end of the year, but the state budget package of laws has not been submitted to the parliament yet.

Speaking specifically about the state budget, the expert said that it is about a little more than $ 9 billion. And this is a very low rate over the last 10 years. Ibadoglu said that the biggest budget was in 2013 - $ 25 billion. "Today's figures show that Azerbaijan is not developed, and steps back,"  he said. Citing specific figures, the economist pointed out that 38% of the budget will be formed at the expense of oil revenues, 45% - taxes, 14% - from the Customs and 3% - other spheres.

"Analysis of the last 10 years shows the inefficient use of budget funds. Over the years 24.4 billion manats,  mainly construction. Unproductive expenditure of investment is now putting pressure on the state budget, which does not get the return of finances invested for 10 years," said Ibadoglu. Referring to the increased cost of debt servicing, the economist said that the budget for 2017, this item of expenditure is 12.4%.

"Those who took a loan, could not spend them effectively. As a result, the burden of debt repayment falls on the state budget, which is replenished at the expense of the taxpayers, what are you and I,"  he said.

Concerning  specific proposals to the government, Ibadoglu said that we should publish a monthly report on the execution of the state budget, to conduct a classification of programs financed from the state budget, reduce operational expenses, including expenses for administrative staff. Speaking further the director of Turan news agency Mehman Aliyev said that the authorities banned the controlled press to discuss budget issues. The process of forming the state budget consists of three parts - the proposals, discussions and monitoring.

"In our case, there is nothing like that, and it is clear that from now on there will be nothing. At the event, no one, even the Public Television and state TV channel,  it is planned  to allocate  in 2017 from the state budget  50 million manat," he said. –71В-