Prime Minister Ali Asadov and members of the Government attended the parliamentary plenary session that Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova presided over on 29 December.

First, a 17-item agenda was approved. Then, Madame Speaker specified that 9 items were the State Budget and the other Bills included in the Budgetary Parcel. Today, she added, the Parliament was to state its attitude to those Bills that were being tabled for deliberations in the third reading.

The 2021 State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic Bill was presented for the third reading by Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili who said that the draft budget of the victorious state and the largest manat budget in the whole history of the country had been discussed thoroughly and comprehensively at the meetings of the parliamentary committees as well as at the precedent Milli Majlis plenary session sittings with the active involvement of the ministers of finance and of economy, and of the chairmen of the Central Bank and the Chamber of Accounts. The MPs had passed favourable verdicts on the draft law during the first two readings. At the same time, they had made several proposals.

While the economy of Azerbaijan has demonstrated stability thanks to the reforms and resolute steps of the Head of State during 2020, in 2021 it is planned to set in motion the economic growth stage with the preservation of macroeconomic stability. The MPs had approved of the intended allocation of funds for both goals next year. The budget of the coming year is drawn up in conformity with the requirements of the Budgetary System Law; it has been made publicly available for open discussions, too. The MPs and experts who have made mass media comments and TV appearances find that the 2021 Budget is adequate to the forthcoming challenges, meets the national security requirements and will serve the cause of strengthening the social protection of the population. The opportunities it provides of accelerated consolidation of the de-occupied territories with the national economy have been highly commended. The Chamber of Accounts, too, has formed a positive opinion about the Budget Bill.

Mr Mirkishili repeated that the 2021 State Budget revenues and expenditures would rise by AZN 1 bn 303 mn to AZN 25 bn 427 mn, and by AZN 1 bn 50 mn to AZN 28 bn 543 mn, respectively. The budgetary deficit would amount to AZN 3 bn 116 mn, the inflation should be 3% and the GDP is forecast to grow by 3.4%. The price of crude oil underlying the budgetary projections for next year is US$ 40 per 1 barrel. The planned spending associated with enhancing the national defence potential and continued improvement of the Armed Forces’ logistics has been raised by AZN 500 mn while the social spending item has been increased by AZN 563 mn.

As the MPs had suggested, the attention is focused on the furtherance of various economic areas and the non-oil sector and  raising eventually the state budget revenues by promotion of business enterprises up country. At the same time, the necessity of expending the funds of the state budget more rationally, increasing the transparency and intensifying the action against shadow economy had been emphasised.

Committee Chairman stressed that the 2021 State Budget Bill was adequate to the challenges that the country would be facing next year; it would serve as a powerful financial basis required for the implementation of the state policy concerned social affairs and security matters.

Then, Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov shed light on several points highlighted at the committee meetings and plenary sittings and answered MPs’ questions. According to Mr Sharifov, the proposals and recommendations that the MPs had made honed in on the following three areas of concern. First, it is increasing the 2021 State Budget outlays for the maintenance of the Great Return of the people to the occupations ridden of the occupation. Second, they had spoken of releasing additional funds for the continued improvement of the defensive power of the country and tightening of the national security coupled with increasing the might of our Army. And third, a broader scope had been proposed for certain social allocations at the expense of the socially oriented expenditures alongside identifying additional sources of funding to raise several salary categories. Minister Sharifov mentioned President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan having signed a relevant decree.

The minister then supplied the assembly with copious information about the events under way in the already-mentioned areas, adding that the priority sectors were invariably centre stage with the Administration of the country. The net weight of the national security and defence spending in the aggregate budget spending from 3.7% to 16.1% over the five years past, which has been the increase by AZN 2 bn 393 mn or 2.1 times. It is evident from the 2021 State Budget Bill that this budget will be no exception to the rule. Besides, the net weight of the social spending has grown by 3.8 percentage points or, in absolute terms, by AZN 4.9 bn or 78.2% inclusive of the 15.6% increase during the expired year. The overall increase in the total State Budget spending will be by more than 1.5 percentage points given the intended 5.3% rise in the socially oriented spending of the 2021 State Budget.

The minister proceeded to mention the planned continuation next year of the efforts to complete the implementation of the compulsory medical insurance facility all over the country, combat the coronavirus pandemic and create new jobs for the people in need of social protection within the frameworks of the employment promotion drive.

The splendid Victory achieved in the Patriotic War fought in the outgoing year 2020 under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan instils us with the resolve to continue promoting the progress of all the leading national sectors with reliance upon the economic stability factors. There is also the resolve to carry on and broaden the work to restore and rebuild the liberated provinces and attain a yet greater public welfare and a yet higher military prowess of our country. The difficulties posed by the pandemic notwithstanding, each of us ought to work tirelessly in order for these not entirely easy but glorious tasks that are set before us, Mr Sharifov urged.

Concluding his speech, Mr Sharifov congratulated the leaders of the Milli Majlis and all the MPs on the approaching World Azerbaijani Solidarity Day and the New Year.

Then, the proposals related to the voting district for which MP Sabir Rustamkhanli had been elected were heard then.

The 2021 State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic Bill was put on vote and approved in the third reading.

Next spoke Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Labour and Social Protection Musa Guliyev who presented the third reading of the draft 2021 Budget of the State Social Protection Fund. Mr Guliyev described the SSPF budget for next year as a reliable one, such that would enable the lower-income fellow citizens, pensioners and people with disabilities as well as members of the other community groups in receipt of the social benefits live in yet better-provided conditions next year. The growth rates of the benefits and pensions exceed that of the inflation; raising the allowances given to the Victory War veterans is especially in the focus of the Government.

The next speaker, Minister for Labour and Social Protection of the Population Sahil Babayev, said that social protection and provisions for the populations made the cornerstone of the SSPF’s 2021 budget. The shahid families and the people handicapped at war are the crucial contingency in this sense: the special kind of attention had been paid to the arrangements to support them. This matter is under the special control of the Head of State; the very fundamental steps are being taken to this end. As regards the outbound year, a large package of social reforms has been carried into life during it.

Mr Babayev went further to talk about serious progress in supplying the persons in these categories with flats and cars: they have been given more than nine thousand flats and more than seven thousand cars to date, and this process is continuing.

While talking of the funds saved in 2020, the minister mentioned the AZN 250 mn economised thanks to the increased collections, termination of unqualified pensions and the endeavours to optimise the spending. That money has been spent on social protection and provisions for the population. The relevant spending plan made for 2020 had equalled AZN 190 mn but the saved funds made it possible to exceed AZN 200 mn ultimately.

Also, the minister informed the assembled in detail of the rehabilitation centres refurbished and put in use, and of those more centres that are to be commissioned in the coming year. Finishing his speech, he congratulated everybody present on the approaching holidays.

The Bill 'On the 2021 Budget of the State Social Protection Fund' was put on vote and approved in the third reading eventually.

Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Labour and Social Policy Musa Guliyev tabled the third reading of the draft 2021 budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, saying that it would add up to AZN 157,769,146 and would therefore exceed the 2020 counterpart by AZN 6,500,000. According to Mr Guliyev, AZN 70 mn would be spent on broadening the scope of the self-employment organisation programmes already afoot in the country.

The Bill 'On the 2021 Budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund' was put on vote; the MPs voted it through the third reading.

The briefing on the third-reading the Bill ‘On the Minimum Subsistence Wage in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2021’ was done by Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili. Mr Mirkishili said that the country-wide subsistence wage should rise from AZN 190 to AZN 196 in 2021. The minimum subsistence wages for the employable population, pensioners and children are forecast to rise from AZN 201 to AZN 207, from AZN 157 to AZN 162, and from AZN 170 to AZN 175, respectively.

MP Fazil Mustafa stated his opinion about the Bill and motioned several ideas as the deliberations ensued. Minister Sahil Babayev asked his questions, after which the Bill 'On the Minimum Subsistence Wage in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2021' was put on vote and approved in the third reading.

Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Musa Guliyev briefed the MPs on the Bill ‘On the Limit Need Tested in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2021’ being tabled in the third reading. According to Mr Guliyev, the need criterion is forecast to rise by AZN 10 or 6.2% to AZN 170 next year.

The vote followed. The MPs approved the Bill ‘On the Limit Need Tested in the Azerbaijan Republic in 2021’ in the third reading as tabled.

After that came the information about the draft amendments to the Budgetary System Law. Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili who presented the draft and the relevant information stressed the technical nature of the amendments. He remarked that, given the modification of the form of incorporation of the SSPF beginning in 2019, it was proposed to replace the wording ‘the budget of the of the entity (body) assigned by the appropriate executive authority implementing social provisions and protection’ with the wording ‘the budget of the State Social Protection Fund’.

The voting that followed put the Bill through the third reading.

Further, Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev presented for the second reading three essentially interrelated items together at the suggestion of the Milli Majlis Chair. Mr Guliyev remarked that the proposed amendments to the laws 'On the Social Insurance', 'On Retirement Pensions' and 'On Social Benefits' would, when enacted, serve the cause of continued improvement of the social provisions in the country.

As the deliberations followed, MP Sabir Rustamkhanli stated his view upon the agenda item and motioned several proposals. Then, the Milli Majlis voted on each Bill separately and consented to the aforementioned amendments to the laws ‘On the Social Insurance’, ‘On Retirement Pensions’ and ‘On Social Benefits’.

The participants of the plenary sitting also voted in the Bills 'On the Cost Estimate of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic for 2021' and 'On the Cost Estimate of the Chamber of Accounts of the Azerbaijan Republic for 2021'.

Adhering to the agenda of the sitting, Member of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Mahir Abbaszade tabled the third reading of the draft amendments to the Service Charter of the Customs Authorities that is adopted pursuant to the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic No 768-IQ dated 7 December 1999. The Milli Majlis heard the relevant information and voted for the approval of the Bill in the third reading.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Ali Masimli spoke of the draft amendments to the Motoring Transport Law. MP Iltizam Yusifov voiced his opinions about roads and means of transportation in the course of the deliberations that followed. The eventual voting signified the MPs' support for the Bill in question.

Then, the Parliament considered four Bills tabled for discussion. Two of them were the sets of draft amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Law, and to the Tax Code of the Azerbaijan Republic (in the second reading). Those were expanded upon by Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Ali Masimli who told the assembly that both Bills were designed to improve protection of creditors' rights including by reducing the time and the number of procedures required by the pertaining proceedings as well as by optimising the associated costs, all subject to the World Bank ‘Doing Business’ report’s indicators ‘Resolving Insolvency’, ‘Paying Taxes’ and ‘Registering Property’. It is understood that the amendments and their effect once they are enacted would improve further Azerbaijan’s position in the ‘Doing Business’ with regards to the said indicators.

The draft amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Law were put on vote in keeping with the second-reading procedures. Subsequently, the MPs approved the document in the second reading.

The draft amendments to the Tax Code in the second reading were voted in then in accordance with the pertaining procedural requirements.

Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Mr Mirkishili informed the Parliament on another package of draft amendments to the Tax Code being tabled for the second reading. He said that it was proposed to add two new articles to the Code: one introducing a one-year exemption (starting on 1 January 2021) from the value-added tax of coronavirus vaccines and syringes to be imported to Azerbaijan and the other granting a two-year (starting in 2021) VAT exemption of the equipment and materials imports for the refurbishment of a major (with the capacity of not less than 3 mn TPA) oil refinery.

The approval of the Bill on the principle was followed by deliberations during which the parliamentary committee chairman Siyavush Novruzov and MP Aghil Abbas were heard.

The document was put on vote: first, article by article, and then as a whole. Subsequently, the Bill was approved in the second reading.

As the plenary sitting drew to a close, the parliamentary committee chairman Tahir Mirkishili notified its participants of the draft amendments to the State Debt Law being tabled for the second reading. The relevant opinions of MP Nigyar Arpadarai were heard and then the Bill was voted for and approved in the second reading in line with the relevant procedural requirements.

With that, the plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis