Azerbaijan's defense budget to be $2 bln in 2019 - chief of General Staff
BAKU. Jan 18 (Interfax-AVN) - Azerbaijan will increase its expenditures on defense and national security by 4.6% in 2019, Col. Gen. Nadzhmeddin Sadikov, the chief of the Azerbaijani General Staff and deputy defense minister, said.
"The provision of 3.37 billion manat [the equivalent of $1.99 billion at the current exchange rate] is envisaged to ensure the country's defense capability and national security in 2019, which is a 4.6% increase from 2018," Sadykov said in an interview with the magazine Milli Mejlis (Parliament).
The increased defense budget made it possible to equip the Azerbaijani army with new types of weapons and equipment, he said. "An increase in this direction is expected this year, as well," he said.
In the past few years, the country's administration provided 1,400 military personnel with permanent housing in Baku, Gyandzh, and Nakhchivan, and another 2,000 received service apartments in various regions of Azerbaijan, he said.
"There are plans to provide permanent housing to another 500 personnel in the near future," Sadykov said.