BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 22. The development of the electronic delivery system is in its final stages and will be fully operational shortly, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Finance Sahil Babayev said at a conference dedicated to the digital transformation of public finance in Baku, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
Moreover, Babayev emphasized that, this mechanism will help improve the operations of finance departments and establish a unified accounting system.
According to him, since April of this year, 7,500 contracts totaling more than 3 billion manat ($1.7 billion) have been concluded in Azerbaijan through the electronic contracting system,
The minister noted that the implementation of the electronic contracting system enables fully electronic tracking of government obligations. The system creates an electronic database of contracts concluded between government agencies, an electronic database of prices, and a unified registry of government obligations.
“This system provides transparent, fast, and efficient capabilities for government agencies. The process of preparing and signing a contract through the electronic contracting system can now be completed within one business day,” he said.
According to Sahil Babayev, following the implementation of the electronic contracting system, bank guarantees were also digitized and integrated with the relevant platform. Currently, advance payments, performance guarantees, and other types of bank guarantees are processed through the electronic platform. The minister emphasized that the electronic processing of this procedure, which previously took 5–10 business days, has eliminated time wasted and accelerated operations.
He added that the development of an electronic receipt and delivery mechanism is also in its final stages and will be fully operational in the coming days.
The minister reported that work is also underway to digitize the State Treasury. According to him, a number of modules of the new digital treasury model have already been put into operation.
“Whereas in the past it took at least five business days to process payments through the treasury, payments are now executed within the same day. Our average processing time is 10 hours. Our goal is to reduce this time to two hours next year,” Sahil Babaev said.
He noted that the treasury system is also being integrated with other electronic systems. This creates a unified digital chain covering all stages: from signing a contract to making a payment, and then to recording the corresponding asset in the state assets registry.
According to the minister, this approach will make it possible to create a unified database of state assets, improve accounting practices in government agencies, and manage financial and non-financial obligations more effectively.
Babayev added that the next phase also involves improving the electronic budget information system. As a result of the integration of electronic contracts, the electronic treasury, and electronic accounting systems, the information generated by these systems will be consolidated into a single electronic budget system.
“I believe that as a result of this integration, we will be able to achieve up to 60% of the state budget in electronic form,” the minister emphasized.
He also discussed the results of the accountability portal, created to oversee and monitor the activities of state-owned enterprises and improve dividend policy.
According to the minister, in a short period of time, 1,113 enterprises have registered on the portal and 11,434 reports have been submitted.
Sahil Babayev reported that, based on this information, 950 approved budget reports from state-owned enterprises for 2026 were received, and 885 dividend forecasts for 2027 were generated.
He noted that, based on the results of the analyses conducted, more than 40 companies plan to pay dividends to the state budget for the first time next year. Overall, dividend revenue is projected to total approximately 900 million manat ($529.4 million).
“This is a clear indication of both the successes achieved in recent years in the management of state-owned companies and the new direction and approach in state financial policy,” the finance minister stated.