Last year’s Azerbaijani state budget executed with surplus

More than 40 percent of Azerbaijan’s state budget revenues for 2018 accounted for the non-oil sector, Trend reports with reference to the country’s finance ministry.

Last week the Azerbaijani parliament approved the law "On execution of Azerbaijan’s state budget for 2018.”

State budget revenues last year amounted to 22.5 billion manats, exceeding the forecast amount by 359 million manats.

Expenditures for the last year amounted to 22.7 billion manats, which is 369 million less than the forecast figures. In the expenditure structure, 11.5 billion manats accounted for operating expenses, and 8.9 billion manats for capital investments. Another 2.2 billion manats were directed to service of the public debt and external liabilities of the country.

The revenues of the consolidated budget for last year amounted to 30.9 billion manats, with a forecast of 28.1 billion manats. Expenditures almost met the forecast figures and amounted to 26.4 billion manats, with a forecast of 26.5 billion manats.

The budget for 2018 was set with a deficit of 1.5 billion manats. Due to higher oil prices during the year, the budget was eventually executed with a surplus of 4.4 billion manats. The price of a barrel of oil in the budget of 2018 was set at $45, but the real average annual price was higher last year.

The budget for 2019 forecasts revenue at 22.917 billion manats, while expenses are projected at 24.780 billion manats. The budget was set with a deficit of 1.863 billion manats.