ECONOMY
President Ilham Aliyev: We must and we will defend State Oil Fund reserves
Baku, September 9, AZERTAC
"We must and we will defend our foreign exchange reserves next year too, especially the reserves of the State Oil Fund," President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has told a meeting on economic issues and preparation of the State Budget for 2016.
"This is how we do our work. I want to say again that I do not see any problems associated with the successful development of Azerbaijan. We will successfully develop in 2016 and meet all the objectives facing the country. The government simply needs to work even harder until the end of the year, particularly in relation to the expenses, the investment program for the next year and our financial status, and make new proposals. I want to reiterate: the main thing is that next year's budget should be balanced, reflect the reality and avoid unnecessary costs," the head of state said.
"There is a lot of work in store for the government next year. The government will work in a new situation. Oil revenues are reducing, so it is necessary to give preference to innovation. Of course, steps will be taken to develop entrepreneurship. Financial stability will be ensured. I have no doubt about that. Our financial situation is stable. We have sufficient foreign exchange reserves."
The head of state added: "Again, by pursuing sound policies, we increased our foreign exchange reserves every year. We are defending the money of the State Oil Fund this year too. True, the decline in the prices of property purchased earlier, in particular, some changes between the rates of the euro and the dollar, can create an impression that the reserves of our State Oil Fund have reduced. But in reality, we can see that they haven't reduced, as certain changes related to the assessment and the rates of world currencies have been introduced."