Baku: Azerbaijan’s Finance Minister Sahil Babayev announced the government’s proposed fiscal strategies for 2026, focusing on public debt servicing and borrowing limits. During a plenary session of the Milli Majlis, Babayev discussed the draft law ‘On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2026’, highlighting key financial targets and constraints.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the finance minister specified that expenditures related to servicing public debt are projected to reach 2.5 billion manats. The government has proposed setting the upper limit of domestic public borrowing at 2 billion manats, external public borrowing at 6 billion manats, and state guarantees at 3 billion manats. Babayev noted that Azerbaijan maintains a low public debt to GDP ratio, with the state’s external debt comprising 32.8 percent of the total debt portfolio. This minimizes sensitivity to exchange rate and external market risks.

The minister further explained that recent measures have extended the average maturity of bonds by 2.4 times, reaching 3.5 years. The proportion of 7-year and 10-year bonds in the bond portfolio has increased by 30 percentage points, which aids in bond refinancing and repayment burden optimization.