By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated August 4, 2023, several amendments were made to the "Socio-Economic Development Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026." Tarana Salifova, Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department at the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication, commented on the implications of these changes.

T. Salifova noted that, in line with the amendments aimed at ensuring sustainable and robust economic growth, the "Strategic Framework for a Sustainable and Competitive Economy" clause of the Strategy now targets the share of total public debt in GDP to not exceed 30% by the end of 2026. Additionally, foreign public debt should not surpass 10 billion US dollars.

Previously, the relevant targets required the share of total public debt in GDP to remain at 20%, including foreign public debt at 10% of GDP. As highlighted by President Ilham Aliyev during the meeting on the socio-economic results for the first six months of 2023, held on July 11, 2023, the targets set in the previous period have been achieved. Foreign public debt currently stands at 6.7 billion US dollars, representing approximately 10% of GDP.

T. Salifova emphasized that, as a result of these amendments, the Indicator Table, which specifies the annual distribution of performance indicators under the Strategy for the second half of 2023, will be revised. The changes will be duly reflected in the intermediate and final performance indicators.

The aforementioned amendments have also been incorporated into the "Framework for Updating the Medium and Long-Term Strategy for 2022-2025 on Public Debt Management in the Republic of Azerbaijan," which was approved by Decree No. 3702 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, dated December 30, 2022.

Furthermore, additional changes were introduced to the Framework document. Specifically, in addition to the repayment of foreign state debt, it was stipulated that up to 5 billion US dollars of foreign debt may be attracted to finance investment projects in priority sectors. This adjustment aims to provide further impetus to the country's socio-economic development. Consequently, the previous target of keeping foreign public debt at 10% of GDP has been replaced with an upper limit for foreign public debt in nominal terms, set at 10 billion US dollars.

Under the new amendments, by the end of 2025, foreign public debt is projected to reach 7.1 billion US dollars, which is approximately 10.7% of GDP. However, these figures remain subject to potential adjustments due to the repayment of existing foreign state debt and the financing of investment projects in priority sectors, which aim to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country.