Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova greeted the attending government officials, the MPs and the journalists, and congratulated them on the National Revival Day celebrated on 17 November at the parliamentary plenum that was held on that day.

Then, the Bill on the 2022 budget of the State Social Protection Fund was tabled for discussion in the first reading.

Chairman of the parliamentary Labour and Social Protection Committee Musa Guliyev who gave an overview of the Bill pointed out the priority status that strengthening social protection of the Azerbaijani citizens including the Garabagh War shahids, invalids, gazies and veterans as well as the lower-income citizens and OAPs has in the context of the policy of the president of the country Ilham Aliyev. The draft 2022 budget of the State Social Protection Fund, too, issues forth from the same intention. The forecast annual revenues and expenditures of the SSPF equalling AZN 5 bn 307 mn will be AZN 429 mn or 8.8% greater than the projections in its current-year budget. As for the expenditures proper, 96.7% of their total or AZN 5 bn 133 mn will go down in payments to the population whilst AZN 210 mn is set aside to cover the planned increase in the insured component of the retirement pensions.

The average annual monthly retirement pension is expected to rise to AZN 345 in 2022 with the minimum monthly retirement pension set to go from AZN 200 up to AZN 240. The OAP, meanwhile, is forecast to rise from AZN 331 this year by AZN 41 to 372 AZN in 2022. The handicap pension is to go AZN 38 up from AZN 261 this year to AZN 299 and the pensions allocated in the case of the loss of a bread-winner will be raised by AZN 35: from AZN 263 to 298 AZN. Similarly to the preceding years, the rate of replacement (ergo, the ratio of the average monthly pension to the average monthly salary) will meet the requirements of the European Social Charter this coming year, too – it will make 43%.

It is planned to allocate AZN 182 mn next year to finance the temporary disablement, pregnancy, child delivery, childbirth, childcare (until the age of 3) and funeral allowances paid from the fund of the accumulated compulsory state social insurance fees. There is a forecast acceleration of the relevant spending growth rate with the highest – 66.7% - pertaining to the allowance paid for childcare until a child reaches the age of 3.

Musa Guliyev was followed by Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Protection of the Population Anar Karimov who informed the House of the parameters of the 2022 Budget of the SSPF. Mr Karimov said that 78% of the forecast revenues or AZN 4 bn 148 mn would come in the compulsory state social insurance fees collections with the anticipated increase by AZN 646 mn or 18% from the current year’s relevant projection. Compared with the approved indications of 2021, the collections from the state-funded organisations and across the off-budget sector are to grow by 25% or AZN 333 mn and by 15% or AZN 313 mn respectively.

The transfer from the 2022 State Budget to the Fund is going to be 16.5 percentage points lower than it was in 2017: it has been reduced from 38.1 to 21.6 per cent. The anticipated increase in the social insurance takings compared with the forecast and aligning the social payment sums with the pertaining legislation as at e/o 2021 should allow the Fund to form a serious reserve cushion.

As for the operating areas of the Fund, Anar Karimov told the House that the digitalisation of 66 services including the 42 that are provided proactively had resulted in 312,000 proactive interviews and appointments. The determined efforts have centralised the financial and accountancy work of the Fund all over the country with the resulting stricter control over financial transactions and management of social payments in a centralised, transparent and prompt fashion and without official/citizen contacts, too. The Deputy Minister added mentioned the plan to complete the audit of the financial and living conditions in the addressed social aid context as well as to conclude the on-going centralisation of the archival work over the country before the year-end.

Deliberations followed. Commendations on the continued strengthening of the social protection of the vulnerable sections of the society came from the Milli Majlis committee chairs Hijran Huseynova, Siyavush Novruzov and Ganira Pashayeva as well as the MPs Elnur Allahverdiyev, Vugar Isgandarov, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Tahir Karimli, Vahid Ahmadov, Ali Masimli, Fazil Mustafa, Etibar Aliyev, Jala Ahmadova, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Afat Hasanova and Rufat Guliyev. The speakers stressed that the social spending of the budget funds remaining socially-oriented shows that the economy of Azerbaijan has kept stable despite the recent exists from both the pandemic and the war. The MPs spoke favourably of that the planned transfer from the State Budget to the SSPF was going to be reduced – for the first time ever. They put to the attending government officials their considerations, remarks and proposals regarding resolution of the concerns of the shahid families and the gazies, in particular, reduction of the unemployment, pensions, social benefits and handicap allowances.

The 2022 draft budget of the SSPF was then voted through the first reading.

The next item on the agenda of the plenum was about the 2022 budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund. It was tabled in the first reading by the parliamentary committee chairman Musa Guliyev who said that the budget was going to be 14% larger than its last-year counterpart and that the revenues and expenditures would equal and would be AZN 180 mn 375 thousand in each case. According to Mr Guliyev, 75.7% of the budget making AZN 136.4 mn would consist of the unemployment insurance fees and 24.3% or AZN 43.9 mn would be the balance of the current-year account. 

All the spending items are planned so as to exceed those of last year; for instance, it is planned to set aside AZN 76 mn 110 thousand for self-employment undertakings that will cover approximately 20,000 households thanks to the planned hike.

Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Protection of the Population Anar Karimov took over to tell the House about the systematic action pursued to align the employment services with the modern requirements emanating from the plan of reforms of President Ilham Aliyev. Anar Karimov also told the assembly of the work already done and to be done yet to promote the labour market’s development and to strengthen the social protection of the jobless and the job-seekers alike in accordance with the 2019-2030 Employment Strategy.

The committee chair Ganira Pashayeva and the MPs Vahid Ahmadov and Sahib Aliyev commented on spending the expiring year’s balance funds on arranging employment for the especially needy or for those who experience trouble finding employment. The legislators also talked about the paid public works.

And then, the MPs voted the 2022 budget of the UIF through the first reading.

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When the second part of the plenary sitting had begun, Chair of the Milli Majlis told the MPs before moving on to the next item on the agenda of the statement of the Ministry of Defence according to which the border provocations by Armenia had led to an engagement on 16 November in which seven Azerbaijani Army servicemen had been killed and ten more been wounded. The memory of the fallen men was honoured with a minute of silence at the suggestion of Mrs Gafarova.

Sahiba Gafarova expressed the deepest condolences to the deceased servicemen’s families and friends and wished those wounded speedy recovery as she spoke on behalf of the Parliament.

Then, the Bill ‘On the Living Wage in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2022’ was considered in the first reading. The commentary given by the chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili indicated that it was proposed to raise the living wage from AZN 196 to AZN 210: AZN 207 to AZN 220 for the workable population, AZN 162 to AZN 176 for the pensioners and AZN 175 to AZN 193 for children.

The Bill was put on vote and approved in the first reading subsequently.

Musa Guliyev said then, as he was introducing the first reading of the Bill ‘On the Need Criterion in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2022’, that it was proposed to set the next-year criterion at AZN 200 for the purposes of identifying the addressed state social aid needs and, consequently, designations. This is going to be 17.6% or AZN 30 higher than AZN 170 this year. So, the difference between the need criterion and the living wage is being reduced to AZN 10, which means that as the need criterion is made redundant eventually, the future addressed state social aid will be designed on the basis of the living wage as defined in the legislation. Musa Guliyev urged the legislators to support this positive move that the Government is taking.

Having received the opinion statements of the concerned parliamentary committees that had considered the draft, the Chair of the Milli Majlis put the matter on vote and the Bill ‘On the Need Criterion in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2022’ was approved in the first reading subsequently.

It was the committee chairman Tahir Mirkishili who gave an overview of the next agenda item being the package of amendments (in the first reading) to the Tax Code. This is one of the documents included in the Budgetary Parcel. The amendments encompass such matters as promotion of the transparency increment process, a universal streamlining of tax administration and tax incentives. They are also concerned with improvement of the tax supervision mechanism, apprehension of evasions, and tax benefits and collections.

As they spoke about this agenda item, the committee chairs Ganira Pashayeva and Musa Guliyev as well as the MPs Razi Nurullayev, Aydin Huseynov, Fazil Mustafa, Etibar Aliyev and Rashad Mahmudov broached the subjects of tax incentives to trigger investments in the provinces, the complicacy of controlling large markets and applying the differentiated VAT rates to certain goods. Opinions and proposals were voiced, too.

Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Samira Musayeva clarified the certain points raised by the MPs and answered their questions, whereupon the draft amendments to the Tax Code were voted through the first reading.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli said then that the agenda items 7^th to the 17^th inclusive were directly related to the first-reading amendments to the Tax Code they had just voted in. they are essentially on the unifying and harmonising side except the set of draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, which are about concretisation and decriminalisation. Specifically, offences estimated at up to AZN 500 are to be addressed in the Code of Administrative Offences whereas all acts costing more than AZN 500 will be regulated by the Criminal Code.

The committee chairmen Tahir Mirkishili, Musa Guliyev, Sadig Gurbanov and Siyavush Novruzov and the MPs Razi Nurullayev and Gudrat Hasanguliyev put forth their ideas about those draft laws. Having heard them, the House put each Bill on vote and approved it in the first reading one after another. Those were the Bills containing draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Azerbaijan Republic, to the laws ‘On the Local (Municipal) Taxes and Fees’, ‘On Barristers and the Bar Practice’, ‘On the Social Insurance’, ‘On Cashless Settlements’, ‘On Execution’, ‘On the State Registration and the State Register of Legal Persons’, ‘On State Procurement’ and ‘On the State Duty’ as well as to the Water, Customs, City-Planning and Building codes of the Azerbaijan Republic and the laws ‘On Mineral Resources’, ‘On Fishing’, ‘On the Animal World’, ‘On Environmental Protection’, ‘On Huntsmanship’, ‘On the Real Estate Register’, ‘On Veterinary’, ‘On Medications’, ‘On Physical Education and Sports’, ‘On Culture’, ‘On Maintaining Measurement Traceability’ and ‘On Licences and Permits’..

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova then gave the floor to First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli so he would introduce the agenda items 17^th to the 22^nd inclusive.

Ali Huseynli told the assembly that those Bills had to do with the execution of the presidential decree ‘On Certain Measures to Improve the Compulsory State Personal Insurance Administration’. To wit, the draft amendments are concerned with the CSPI of the people serving in the specialist areas encompassed by the laws ‘On the Status of the Member of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic’, ‘On the Compulsory State Personal Insurance of the Military Personnel’, ‘On the Compulsory State Personal Insurance of the Court and Law Enforcement Authority Personnel’, ‘On the Compulsory State Personal Insurance of the Persons Serving with the Diplomatic Missions of the Azerbaijan Republic in Other Countries and at the International Organisations’ and, lastly, ‘On the Insurance Practice’.

Remarks were made by the committee chairmen Tahir Mirkishili and Ziyafet Asgarov as well as the deputy committee chair Sevinj Fataliyeva. Then, the nine Bill were voted through the first reading one by one.

Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili then tabled the first reading of the draft amendments to the Service Charter of the State Customs Organs, approved with the law No 141-IIQ dated 12 June 2001. Mr Mirkishili told the House that the amendments were concretising the CSPI-related matters concerning the service personnel and employees of the tax authorities.

The MPs voted for the Bill in the first reading as tabled.

Then, Chief Administrator of the Milli Majlis Firudin Hajiyev presented the expenses budget of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic for 2022, saying that it the sustenance allocation for the legislature and its Staff planned for next year would equal AZN 42 mn 36 thousand 822 to be AZN 233 thousand 578 down from the 2021 analogue, and that 82.3% of the projected expenses had been pinned down to the payroll and other remuneration-related expenses.

The expenses budget of the Milli Majlis was commented on by the MPs Tahir Karimli, Razi Nurullayev and Aydin Mirzazade.

As for the 2022 expenses budget of the Chamber of Accounts of the Azerbaijan Republic, it was outlined by the Chamber’s Chairman Vugar Gulmammadov who said that the allocation would equal AZN 10.1 mn.

Summing up the plenum, the Chair of the Milli Majlis said that the last two items would be voted after the 2022 State Budget’s third reading.

The plenum of the Milli Majlis was over there.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis