Azerbaijan to allocate $75.3 million for its Unemployment Insurance Fund

By Azernews

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

Azerbaijan will increase the budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund by $26 million in 2020 compared to 2019.  

Thus, the budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population for 2020 is projected at over 128 million manat ($75.3 million), Azerbaijani Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Sahil Babayev has said during the Parliament’s next plenary session on November 13. Babayev was delivering speech on the "Budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund for 2020".

The Fund's income and expenses were roughly $49 million in 2019, which is 6.3 per cent less than the approved revenues of the Fund for 2018.

Thus, $65.3 million of the Fund’s revenue will be covered through the unemployment insurance fees, $10 million through the organizations financed from the budget, $44,824 through the extra-budgetary sector and through other receipts in 2020.

The Fund’s expenses have also been revealed. Under the document, $2.9 million are envisaged for insurance payments, $2.9 million for vocational training and additional training, $1.2 million for consultations in the field of vocational education, $294,120 for organizing labor fairs and exchanges, $1.2 million for the paid public work, $37 million for the organization of self-employment events, $1.8 million for financing a certain part of the salary insured for a certain period (3, 6, 9 and 12 months), $1.2 million for the preparation of professional standards, $25.3 million - expenses for the administration and its local structures determined by the relevant executive body in 2020.

The document was adopted after the discussion at the plenary meeting in the parliament in the first reading.

The law will come into force on January 1, 2020.

It should be noted that the law of Unemployment Insurance Fund was firstly signed by President on 30 June, 2017 and entered into force on January 1, 2018. The law ensures social protection of the population by taking preventive measures to compensate for lost wages of insured persons and prevent unemployment and to strengthen the social protection of the population through the establishment of new risk-based approaches and mechanisms for risk management in Azerbaijan’s labor market.

Additionally, the laws “On the state budget for 2020”, “On the subsistence minimum for 2020”, “On the criterion of means of need for 2020”, “On the budget of the State Social Protection Fund for 2020”, “On the cost estimate of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan”, “ On the Estimated Costs of the Accounts Chamber for 2020”, “On Labor Pensions”, “On Employment”, “On Social Benefit ”, as well as amendments to the Tax Code were submitted for discussion.

 It should be noted that, mainly, discussions continued on the draft law “On the state budget for 2020” in the parliament. The revenues of Azerbaijan’s state budget for 2020 are projected $14.2 billion, which is an increase of 4.2 per cent, expenses – $15.9 billion, which is an increase of 6.8 per cent compared to 2019.

The budget discussions in the parliament launched on November 12 were also held on November 13 and will continue on November 14, as well.