Law on Grants of Azerbaijan
Republic will be changed
While discussing the state budget for 2003 fiscal year at the Milli Mejlis,
the draft proposing amendments to and changing of some legislature of Azerbaijan
Republic had been discussed. The Paragraph 25 of the Draft proposed to make
changes in the Article 5 of the Law on Grants of AR by adding the third paragraph
to it which would read as following "As mentioned at the present law the
money received as grants should be subject to the compulsory state social insurance
and be regulated by the Law on State Insurance."
It is well known that at present the NGO Sector in Azerbaijan depends on allocated
money in the from of grants. In case if the cost of the state insurance is added
to the projects applying for grants, then these projects will be more expensive.
For instance, if 50% of a project's budget is allocated for salaries then this
project will be more expensive for about 15%. It may have double effect, from
one hand it may evoke discontent of grant issuing entities resulting in the
reduction of grants allocation into the country, from the other hand it may
reduce the amount of salaries paid through the grants resulting in the reduction
of the number of experts and professionals working in this sector. The overall
result will be a serious blow to the work of the developing NGO sector which
is directly dependent on the grants.
The National NGO Forum expresses its disturbance with the complicated situation
for NGOs which may appear in case if the above mentioned amendments to the Law
on Grants are adopted. It believes that the Milli Mejlis will turn the proposal
down for the sake of the Third Sector development.
The press service of the NNF.
|