Five days after my post regarding why Azerbaijan should not amend its state budget, the government announced the 2022 budget amendments. With this post, I will look at what changed and share my opinion.
Azerbaijan’s Fiscal Challenge
Fueled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of BRENT crude oil in the first five months of 2022 has averaged 103 USD per barrel. This is substantially above the 50 USD per barrel price which Azerbaijan’s policymakers used when drafting the state budget for 2022. With a sizable surplus in the budget of the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ), Azerbaijan’s fiscal policy faces another challenge.
Performance Index for the Budget Policy of Azerbaijan (PIBPA)
The Performance Index for the Budget Policy of Azerbaijan (PIBPA) is an index, developed and calculated by me on an annual basis. Its primary purpose is to quantify and grade my assessment of budgetary policy (in a broad sense) in Azerbaijan.
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Minimum Wage Policy of Azerbaijan
With a decree on November 5th, the minimum wage in Azerbaijan has been increased from 250 AZN to 300 AZN per month. With this post, I am going to analyze the minimum wage policy of Azerbaijan and try to come up with suggestions on how to improve it.
State Budget of Azerbaijan 2022
On early November, the Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan published the budget proposal for the year 2022. In this post, I am going to look at the document and share my opinion.
Agricultural Subsidies of Azerbaijan
In the state budget of 2021, Azerbaijan plans to spend 506 million AZN for agricultural subsidies, equaling 1.8% of its total expenditures. Considering the importance of the agriculture for the rural population, as well as the hefty cost of the program, I decided to write a brief post about the subsidies.
Manat: Stability or Sustainability?
On April of last year, I wrote about the then-mounting pressure on Azerbaijani manat (AZN) and concluded that we can expect the currency to be devaluated by the end of the year 2020. However, time has shown that manat managed to preserve its stability. I decided to write this post to analyse why my prediction was inaccurate and to mention couple of relevant points.
Story of the Unflown Airport – Zagatala International Airport
It always seemed odd to me that a country like Azerbaijan with small area/population and underdeveloped tourism sector has 6 international airports. To add insult to the injury, the government recently announced the construction of another international airport in Fuzuli. There are even rumors of one more airport to be built in Kalbajar in the near future. Considering all these, I decided to take the specific example of Zagatala and showcase why such projects are likely to bring minimal benefit at best.
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State Budget of Azerbaijan 2021
Due to the recent war in Karabakh, the presentation, discussion, and approval of the state budget of Azerbaijan was delayed until the very last days of December. As the proposal has been adopted by the Parliament and signed into law by the President, I have decided to take a brief look and share with you the points that I deem noteworthy.
Continue reading “State Budget of Azerbaijan 2021”Amendments to the 2020 State Budget of Azerbaijan
The Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan recently announced the proposal for the amendments to the 2020 state budget. The move comes as no surprise, given the current economic climate. However, there is much to discuss in amendments, particularly concerning the State Oil Fund and the Budget Rule…
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Economir 