Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan's Labor and Social Protection Minister Sahil Babayev has said that the government spending on social projects and employment support measures have reached record indicators in 2020.

In an interview with local media, Babayev said that the targeted social assistance in the country was expanded in 2020 to cover 350,000 members of 84,000 families

Babayev stated that a record number of over 1,500 apartments and private houses, as well as 400 cars will be handed over to martyrs’ families and disabled war veterans in 2020. In addition, the program of social services for elderly people over 65 years old covers 15,000 people.

Moreover, during the special quarantine regime, more than 100,000 families received 200,000 food sets.

The minister said that Azerbaijan allocated AZN 200 million ($117.6m) for the social security programs in 2020 that cover over 500,000 people.

The minister added that social protection support was provided to 2 million people, of which 1,660,000 were supported in the framework of maintaining labor relations, and more than 700,000 people were supported in the framework of unemployment and support for low-income people who lost their income during quarantine.

"These measures once again show that the welfare of Azerbaijani citizens is at the center of state policy," Babayev said.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has also allocated AZN 53 million ($31.1m) to pay benefits to unemployed people amid COVID-19. The lump-sum payments in the amount of AZN 190 ($111.7) will be provided in Baku, Jalilabad, Ganja, Masalli, Mingachevir, Sumgayit, Yevlakh and in Absheron, Barda, Goranboy, Goygol, Khachmaz, Salyan districts regions where the special quarantine regime has been imposed.

The government has also exempted legal entities and individual entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan operating in the spheres negatively affected by the COVID-19 from rental payment for the period of nine months - from April 2020 till January 2021.

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