Minister: There is ground for increasing assets of Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund

"Azerbaijan, which left behind most of the shocks of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 after 2020, which was quite difficult from a socio-economic point of view, is now showing confident growth rates," Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said at a plenary session of the parliament, Report informs.

According to the minister, by the end of this year, Azerbaijan's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will return to the pre-pandemic level: "It supports the belief that in 2022, economic development will create significant financial opportunities. In the first nine months of 2021, Azerbaijan's GDP increased by 4.8% compared to the same period last year. In the non-oil sector, the increase was 6.2%. The value of our foreign trade turnover increased by 30% year on year to $20.1 billion. As a result, the foreign trade surplus reached $5.1 billion."

The minister also said that the forecast on budget revenues through the tax and customs authorities for nine months of 2021 had been fulfilled by 20.2% and 12.4% - 1.067 billion manats and 320 million manats, respectively. Due to the significant increase in the selling price of crude oil compared to the forecast, along with the revenues of the state budget, the assets of the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) also increased.

Although the state budget deficit was projected at 839 million manats in the first nine months, the actual balance was 160 million manats. By the end of this year, budget revenues are projected to be executed by 6% or 1.5 billion manats more than the approved figure, and budget expenditures by 5% or 1.2 billion manats less. It gives grounds to say that the transfer from SOFAZ to the budget will not be fully used.