Parliament Begins to Discuss Package of Laws of State Budget for 2019

Baku / 13.11.18 / Turan: The Milli Majlis (parliament) on Tuesday began discussing a package of laws of the state budget for 2019.

The revenue side of the state budget is projected at 22 billion 917 million 500 thousand manat, which is 3.5% more compared to the state budget of 2018. State budget revenues will amount to 28% of GDP.

The structure of budget revenues includes 31.9% of revenues from the Ministry of Taxes, 49.6% of SOFAZ transfers, 15.1% of revenues from the State Customs Committee, and 3.4% of other revenues.

State budget expenditures are projected at 24 billion 780 million manat, which is 7.8% more compared to the budget of the current year. State budget expenditures will be 30.2% of GDP.

The package of laws also includes the establishment of a living wage for 2019 (180 manat), for the working population - 191 manat, for pensioners - 149 manat, and for children - 160 manat.

The average dollar exchange rate in the state budget is set at 1.7000 manat, and the price per barrel of oil is set at $ 60.

Parliamentary discussions will continue on November 14, 15, 23 and 30.

Then the draft state budget will be sent to the government for revision, after which a vote will be taken in parliament.

Recall that earlier the Chamber of Accounts made several critical comments about the state budget. So, here they believe that when drawing up the state budget for 2019, risks were not taken into account.

In conclusion, the Accounts Chamber states that when forecasting the parameters of the state budget, only one scenario is provided, which limits the risk assessment of the budget.

"The rate of the US currency is indicated only at the level of 1.7000 manat. A different scenario regarding the exchange rate of 0.80 manat or 2.0 manat would provide an opportunity to predict a possible change in the revenue part of the budget, and to foresee the difference that will arise when financing liabilities related to public debt."

As another example of this, the Accounts Chamber indicated the price of oil. In the draft state budget, the price per barrel of oil is indicated at $ 60. In the Chamber they think that other scenarios should have been indicated - an optimistic $ 100 and a pessimistic $ 40. -71D-