Finance minister says 2015-state budget to remain unchanged

/By AzerNews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan’s finance minister does not see a need for correcting the 2015-state budget projection amid the fall in the oil prices.

“There are certain criteria in the legislation after which adjustment can be made, but, we do not see any need now,” Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said in briefing on April 20, Trend reports.

The oil price was set at the level of $90 per barrel in the 2015-state budget approved in November 2014. The 2015- budget anticipates revenues of 19.4 billion manats and spending of 21 billion manats. The current state budget’s deficit is expected to hit 2.8 percent of GDP.

“When forecasting the 2015-state budget, we have set the oil price at $ 90 per barrel, but after the fall in oil prices the figure turned out to be somewhat overpriced. Sure, it affects the budget revenues. But any direct damage to the state budget is not so big,” the minister said adding that the drop in oil prices have a negative impact on the balance of payments.

Azerbaijan is the second-largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union region after Russia and Kazakhstan. Oil and gas make up 95 percent of Azerbaijan’s exports, over 65 percent of its state revenues, and 40 percent of its GDP.

Sharifov said the government has taken some steps due to the cut in oil revenues. "We plan to make better use of the budget. Moreover, we plan to postpone realization of several investment projects, actually they can be realized next year,” he said.

The energy rich nation’s central bank put an end to the dollar peg for the manat in February, which system had held since mid-2011. The manat weakened by 33.5 percent against the dollar, and by 30 percent against the euro then.