BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 22. Digitalization plays an important role in improving public finance management, increasing transparency and accountability, and reducing corruption risks, Ingilab Ahmadov, chairman of the Public Council under Azerbaijan's Ministry of Finance, said, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
Ahmadov made the remarks on Thursday at a conference in Baku dedicated to the digital transformation of public finance.
He said the Public Council under the Ministry of Finance was established relatively recently and that the conference was its first event. According to Ahmadov, choosing digitalization as the subject of the inaugural event carries symbolic significance.
He noted that digitalization is one of the key areas of ongoing reforms in Azerbaijan and plays a leading role in the reforms being carried out at the Finance Ministry.
“Digitalization is a global trend and a reality of our time. In the financial sector, particularly in public finance management, digitalization is becoming one of the key pillars of sustainable socio-economic development,” he said.
Ahmadov stressed that digitalizing public finance and fiscal policy is a fundamental transformation that improves the efficiency, transparency and responsiveness of the budget and tax system. This approach involves building mechanisms for collecting, allocating and managing public resources around modern technologies.
According to him, digitalization is not merely a technological innovation in the financial sector, but also a strategic necessity and a source of competitive advantage. It also helps strengthen discipline in public finance management.
“Digitalization is also a call for discipline. Discipline plays a key role in the efficient management of financial resources, particularly public funds,” Ahmadov noted.
He added that digitalization could also help reduce state intervention in the economy. Excessive government regulation does not always produce positive results, he said, while automating financial operations reduces the need for state intervention and helps optimize processes in the public sector.
Ahmadov also highlighted the role of digitalization in combating corruption. The use of objective criteria, data-driven fiscal decision-making and greater access to public procurement data can help reduce abuses, he said.
“Undoubtedly, one of the most important issues for the public sector is the indispensable role digitalization plays in increasing transparency and accountability,” he stressed.
The Public Council chairman noted that digitalization begins with data collection and the development of the necessary infrastructure, but does not end there. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) enable more effective analysis of digital data, process automation and new opportunities for decision-making.
“If digitalization provides the necessary infrastructure for data, artificial intelligence offers the analytical power and automated decision-making capabilities that turn digital processes into intelligent systems,” Ahmadov said.
He added that digitalization and AI not only minimize the influence of human factors in decision-making but also change the requirements for human capital. In this context, financial and technological literacy is becoming increasingly important.