Legislative procedures for allocating public funds for culture in the Republic of Azerbaijan are defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan (No.00 of November 12, 1995), the Law on the Budget System (No.358-IIQ of July 2, 2002), annual laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan and decrees of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the state budget, and annual laws and Presidential decrees on executing the state budget. In addition, approved by corresponding decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Rules of Preparation and Execution of the State Budget (No. 75 of May 24, 2004) and the Unified Budget Classification of the Republic of Azerbaijan (No. 440 of October 11, 2018) are the instruments governing these procedures for state bodies.
The competence of the Milli Majlis (parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan includes approving the state budget upon the President’s submission and supervising its implementation. An annual state budget law approves the revenues and expenditures for the following year, including centralised and local. Tax revenues from the state budget are allocated to corresponding purposes at the level of sections and subsections of the functional classification, including activities in culture, the arts, and related fields.
After adopting the annual law on the state budget, the President signs a special Decree on several issues related to applying this law, which approves the order of financing of organisations and events from the state budget. The Decree also defines the distribution of budgetary funds for culture between central and local institutions, as well as the allocation of funds for specific activities and events. This legal act also specifies the costs of education in culture and art, the regulation of wages and other social measures, charges for strengthening and overhauling material and technical bases, and extra-budgetary expenditures of budgetary organisations. Finally, the Ministry of Finance specifies the incomes and expenses of sources based on approved indicators for the state budget of the next fiscal year and submits it to the Ministry of Culture.
Generally, proposals for allocating public funds to culture are based on forecasts of the country’s economic and social development for the following year and the subsequent three years. Targeted programs and the evaluation of cultural activity results are collected during the preparation process for the draft state budget, which begins 11 months before the next budget year. All budgetary cultural institutions participate in this process, submitting their budget requests and forecasts to the Ministry of Culture through the administrative hierarchy, integrating them into a single application.
The issue can be raised before the Milli Majlis through a legislative initiative if a necessity arises for a review of the state budget during the execution process, and it was not possible to consider the need during the preparation and approval of the current year’s state budget. The Ministry of Culture may also request that the Ministry of Finance transfer funds allocated between paragraphs of the approved indicators for the current state budget year in the second half of the year, if necessary.
Budgetary institutions and organisations procure goods, works, and services based on the Law on Public Procurement (No.988-VIQ of July 14, 2023). However, if the amount of the specified public procurement is equal to or exceeds AZN 50 thousand, compulsory public tendering for funds is announced via the Public Procurement Electronic Portal of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
All budget proposals are prepared in accordance with the Unified Budget Classification.
Comments are closed.