Afət Ziyadqızı
“One of the main principles guiding the preparation of our budget policy has always been the protection of public welfare. It is therefore no coincidence that Azerbaijan has repeatedly implemented social package reforms at the initiative of the country’s president. As part of these reforms, the minimum wage, minimum pensions and benefits have been increased several times across the country.”
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports that Finance Minister Sahil Babayev made the remarks during a discussion of the draft law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2027” at a joint meeting of four Milli Majlis committees today.
“In a relatively short period, we raised the minimum wage from 130 manats to 400 manats and the minimum pension from 116 manats to 320 manats. The good news is that a major social package will be implemented in Azerbaijan next year, and funding for it has been set aside in the budget as reserve funds. Once the draft measures prepared by the government are finalized and submitted to the president, and the relevant decrees are signed, those funds will be allocated to the appropriate budget items, and we will all see the figures.
“Pensions are indexed every year in Azerbaijan to protect the welfare of the population, particularly pensioners. The indexation rate is tied to the increase in the average wage in the previous year.
“On average, indexation has been above or around 9% over the past five years. Taking into account that inflation in the first 10 months of this year was 5.6%, and our forecast for next year is 5.3%, we believe pension indexation will again exceed inflation, based on the rates of recent years and wage growth during the first 10 months of this year. People’s incomes will therefore undoubtedly rise. We cannot announce the figure today because, under the law, it is based on the annual increase in the average wage over 12 months. We will know that annual figure toward the end of January. At present, if I am not mistaken, the increase is around 7.8%. We will have the actual figures for the next two months, after which the relevant indexation will ensure a real increase in pensioners’ incomes — both to offset inflation and to address other factors,” the minister said.
