Domestic

Home page

Domestic

President Ilham Aliyev: "Not a single program in the social sphere will be reduced until the end of the year"

17 April 2020 16:47 (UTC +04:00)

"Growth in the non-oil industry is at 23 percent. This indicates that the attention paid to this area in recent years and the investments made are producing excellent results. Inflation is at 3 percent, in the first two months of the year it was at 2.8 percent, and now it has increased slightly. And household incomes grew by almost 7 percent. In three months, tax and customs authorities transferred more than 310 million manats into our budget in excess of the forecast. I believe that this is a good result, which is a clear example of the measures related to transparency, especially considering that economic activity has now subsided, "President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting on the socio-economic results of the first quarter of 2020 through videoconference, on April 14, APA reports.

"I must note that not a single program in the social sphere will be reduced until the end of the year. On the contrary, the total support package for coronavirus is provided in the amount of 2.5 billion manats. But there will be more. Recently, only 97 million manats was allocated from the Contingency Fund of the President for the purchase of necessary equipment and supplies. And further by the end of the year, there are plans to allocate as much as necessary, another 150 million manats. This is not part of 2.5 billion manats. All social payments are being made. I believe that an increase in the average monthly wage by 28 percent and the average pension by about 27 percent indicates that positive work is being done in this direction. Now our average monthly salary is 712 manats and the average pension is 295 manats. Age-based pension is close to 330 manats. So we increase wages and pensions every year. Of course, there was a very large increase last year, as 4.2 million people benefited from the programs adopted by the state. This year, all social infrastructure facilities will be built without any reductions. At least 7,000 IDP families will be resettled to new apartments and at least 1,500 martyr families will be provided with new apartments.

In a nutshell, I want to say that the results of three months can, in principle, be evaluated positively. However, I want to say again that no-one knows how long the pandemic will last and when economic activity will recover. We must take all steps in accordance with the situation.

I should also note that in order to maintain the stability of the social, economic and financial, macroeconomic situation, four working groups were set up on my executive order. Let the leaders of these groups report on the work done and submit proposals. Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov will be the first to speak," said the head of state.