Azerbaijan news

Both the largest budget and the lowest average salary in the South Caucasus are in Azerbaijan

MP Zahid Oruj joined the discussion of amendments to this year’s budget in parliament and compared Azerbaijan’s budget with neighboring Georgia and Armenia:

“Given that the state budget of Georgia is $ 6.3 billion, and Armenia – $ 4.4 billion, the state budget of Azerbaijan will be twice the joint budget of the two South Caucasus countries.”

After the changes, Azerbaijan’s state budget revenues are projected at 29 billion 198 million manat.

This is 2 billion 382 million manat higher than the revenues expected at the beginning of the year. At the current exchange rate, the dollar expression of Azerbaijan’s budget revenues is 17 billion 175 million.

The 2022 budget approved by the Georgian parliament states that Georgia’s budget revenues this year are projected at 19.36 billion lari.

The 2022 budget approved by the Georgian parliament states that Georgia’s budget revenues this year are projected at 19.36 billion lari.

At the current exchange rate, this means about $ 6.6 billion.

Armenia’s budget for 2022 is projected at 1.948 trillion drams, or about $ 4.4 billion. From this point of view, it is clear that the revenues of the state budget of Azerbaijan are not twice the joint budgets of Georgia and Armenia, but only 56 percent.

An important indicator is per capita budget revenues

On the other hand, it should be taken into account that when comparing economic indicators, it is more important to compare per capita budget revenues than budget revenues to see the real situation. After all, this indicator allows to make a real comparison. If we calculate based on this approach, it turns out that there is no significant difference between the per capita budget revenues in Azerbaijan and the same revenues in Georgia and Armenia. Even per capita budget revenues in Azerbaijan lag behind Georgia.

According to the latest statement of the State Statistics Committee, the number of Azerbaijani citizens is 10 million 173 thousand people. If we take into account that budget revenues in Azerbaijan this year will be $ 17 billion 175 million, it means that in 2022, the amount of budget revenues per capita in Azerbaijan will be $ 1,688.

According to the Georgian Statistics Agency, the population of Georgia at the beginning of this year was 3,689,000. As the country’s budget revenues this year are $ 6.6 billion, per capita income is about $ 1,789.

If Armenia’s budget revenues this year are $ 4.4 billion and the population is 2,972,000, then the budget revenue will be $ 1,480 per capita. From this point of view, it is clear that although the revenues of the state budget of Azerbaijan are nominally higher than the budget revenues of Georgia and Armenia, the comparison of indicators per capita creates a different picture. In terms of per capita budget revenues, Azerbaijan lags behind Georgia by 6 percent. Per capita budget revenues in Azerbaijan are only 14 percent higher than in Armenia.

What about salaries?

There is no significant difference between the average monthly salaries in the three South Caucasus countries. According to the latest data of the State Statistics Committee, the average monthly salary in Azerbaijan is 825 manat. That’s $ 485 at current exchange rates. According to the Georgian statistics body, the average monthly salary in the neighboring country is 1,447 lari, or $ 495.

From this point of view, it is clear that Georgia is ahead of Azerbaijan in terms of per capita budget revenues, as well as the average monthly salary. At present, the average monthly salary in Georgia is about 2 percent higher than in Azerbaijan. In Armenia, according to the latest data, the average monthly salary is 217,000 drams, or about $ 525. This means that the current average monthly salary in Armenia is higher than the average monthly salary in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

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