This was announced by Azerbaijan’s Finance Minister, Samir Sharifov, during discussions on the draft law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2025” in the Milli Majlis.
“Armenia is actively arming itself. In response, under the President’s directive, there is a need to increase national security spending, which in turn requires an increase in transfers from the Oil Fund. As you know, we have not previously advocated for raising the Oil Fund transfer compared to the current year,” said the minister.
The SOFAZ transfer to the state budget for 2025 is forecasted at 14.481 billion manat, which is 1.7 billion manat (13.3%) higher than the projected figure for 2024 and 2.743 billion manat (23.4%) more than the actual figure for 2023.
Azerbaijani economist and analyst, Elshad Mammadov, Chair of the Public Council under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, and a professor, emphasized that SOFAZ funds should primarily focus on financing domestic investment projects:
“We need to create a development-oriented budget, diversifying budgetary opportunities and resources into those that are permanent and those that are variable.”
According to the analyst, variable revenues should come from favorable global energy price conditions:
“These budgetary opportunities, derived from global market trends, should, in my view, be allocated through the state budget toward investment projects.”
He stressed the need to consider external turbulence and global economic uncertainties while making financial decisions.
“At the same time, expenditures on national security and defense must remain a priority, especially given the risks posed by Armenia’s militarization and geopolitical challenges. I believe national security and defense spending should be maintained at a high level, with no funding issues in this area,” Mammadov stated, calling this step justified under the current circumstances.
“In this context, in my opinion, SOFAZ funds should be allocated both for implementing domestic investment projects and for defense and security-related expenditures,” he concluded.
