IMF AND WORLD BANK MISSIONS DUE IN BAKU
The Minister noted that the process of preparing the state budget for 2004 was actively in progress. According to preliminary data, revenue from the state budget in future will increase by over 10% compared with the revenue for the current budget. Meanwhile the level of deficit of the budget could be reduced to 0.7% of the GDP considering that the level for 2003 was 1%, which will be the lowest level of deficit. As Mr Alekperov also noted, discussions will be held with the WB mission on the conditions for the issue of USD20 million within the framework of the SAC-3 credit to cover the deficit of the state budget for 2004.
The Finance Minister also informed journalists that work was in progress on the Tax Code of Azerbaijan. It assumes reducing the tax rate on profit from the present 25%. That apart, said Mr Alekperov, there is plans to extend the grace period for agricultural producers by 5 years. According to the law on 'temporary tax holidays for agricultural producers', farmers since 2001 had been exempted from paying all taxes for 3 years with the exception of land tax.
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