Parliament OKs amendments to state budget, creation of insurance fund

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The final plenary meeting of Azerbaijani Parliament’s extraordinary session was held on June 30.

The agenda included 19 issues, including amendments to the law "On state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2017", Water Code, Migration Code, laws "On execution", "On prevention of domestic violence", "On advertising", "On state duty", "On establishment of orders and medals of the Republic of Azerbaijan". 

Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, addressing the discussions on the state budget, said that the increase in the expenditure part of the state budget is related to allocation of additional funds to the Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (540 million manats) and the state oil company SOCAR.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani state will allocate four billion manats for restructuring the IBA’s foreign liabilities. “The allocation of funds for restructuring the IBA’s foreign liabilities will significantly enhance the bank’s stability, strengthen its solvency and positively affect its further privatization,” noted the minister.

The increase in state expenditures, according to Sharifov, is also related to regulation of costs of maintenance of state-owned kindergartens, as well as the creation of financial support for new kindergartens in the cities and regions of the country. It is planned to allocate 58 million manats for these purposes.

Following the discussions, the parliamentarians approved the amendments to the “Law on State Budget of 2017”.

Revenues in the revised state budget are forecast at 16.766 billion manats, which is 511 million manats or 3.1 percent more than the initially approved forecast. Expenditures are expected to stand at 17.941 billion manats, 1.041 billion manats or 6.2 percent more than the initial forecast. Deficit of the state budget is forecast to stand at 1.175 billion manats (an increase by 530 million manats), which accounts for 1.8 percent of the expected GDP of Azerbaijan in 2017.

Meanwhile, the uppermost limit on external loan has been elevated by 4 billion manats – up to 4.5 billion manats – in connection with the issue of Eurobonds by the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA).

The International Bank of Azerbaijan has been operating since 1992 and is one of the country’s two state-owned banks.

The IBA had previously commenced a process of voluntary debt restructuring as part of its rehabilitation. The bank’s total debt to foreign creditors is $3.3 billion.

The Parliament further considered the issues of appointing judges to different courts.

The First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Ziyafat Asgarov, who is also a member of the Judicial-Legal Council, spoke about the reforms carried out in country’s judicial system.

The parliamentarians further considered and approved the law "On Compulsory Insurance against Unemployment".

The main principles of unemployment insurance will be compulsory, legal equality of unemployment insurance subjects, differentiation of insurance payments depending on the length of insurance and duration of unemployment.

The Parliament also approved establishment of a jubilee medal dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which will be celebrated next year.

The session also approved the law ‘On ethical behavior of members of the Parliament’.

The bill stipulates possibility of depriving the mandate of an MP, who grossly violated the rules of ethical behavior. The document also prohibits the use of offensive phrases and interruption of colleagues' speeches, etc.