BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 12. Subsidies have, in some cases, been directed to expenses other than those for which they were intended in Azerbaijan last year.
This was stated in the opinion of the Chamber of Accounts on the draft law "On the implementation of the 2025 state budget".
The opinion says that in the reporting year, some of the subsidies allocated from the state budget have been unused and have remained in the balance, and in some areas, despite the provision of subsidies for years, the effectiveness of activities has remained low.
According to the information, although subsidies were envisaged in 47 directions according to administrative classification in 2025, only 46 of them were implemented. The funds planned to be allocated for the direction of "Preparation of feasibility studies for reforms in a number of state enterprises" were not implemented.
According to the analysis of the Chamber of Accounts, the implementation level of subsidy directions varied between 16.2% and 100% compared to the verified allocation. Funds were fully implemented in 19 directions, the implementation level in 15 directions was higher than 90%, and in 12 directions it was lower than 90%.
The largest share of implemented subsidies – 41% – belonged to the Agrarian Credit and Development Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan. These funds were directed to providing subsidies for planting, crops, seeds, animals, and cocoons to agricultural producers.
The chamber's audit on the assessment of the effectiveness of state support in the field of crop production found that the financing of sowing subsidies mainly takes into account the implementation of sowing and plowing works, and risk criteria related to productivity indicators have not been formulated. As a result, it was noted that the activities of some farmers are more focused on obtaining subsidies than on increasing productivity.
The audit conducted in the field of agricultural insurance showed that the level of animal insurance is low. According to the Agricultural Insurance Fund, the number of animals insured in 2023–2025 amounted to only 0.04%-0.08% of the total number of cattle and small animals. The Chamber of Accounts attributed this to the poor implementation of the process of identification and marking of animals.
The opinion noted that among the subsidies allocated to state-owned enterprises, the largest share was allocated to expenditures related to reforms in the field of public transport. The main part of these funds was directed to BakuBus LLC in order to cover the losses incurred in the field of passenger transportation in Baku. Other organizations that received a high share of subsidies were Azeristiliktachizat OJSC and Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC.
The Chamber of Accounts also noted that external state financial control measures carried out in 2025 showed that subsidies were, in some cases, directed beyond their intended purpose, including to finance capital expenditures. However, according to the State Financial Statistics Manual, subsidies should be used only for the purpose of covering current expenses.
The opinion added that some organizations didn't fully use the allocated subsidies and kept the funds in bank accounts at the end of the year. As an example, it was indicated that 9.9 million manat ($5.8 million) of the 15 million manat ($8.8 million) allocated to the Mortgage and Credit Guarantee Fund to finance interest subsidies on loans taken by entrepreneurs in manat remained unused at the end of the year.
The Chamber of Accounts emphasized the importance of developing clearer criteria and specific rules regulating the mechanism for providing subsidies from the state budget.
