DUSHANBE, October 1, 2013, Asia-Plus -- A September 30 meeting of the government, presided over by President Emomali Rahmon, considered the personnel issue and endorsed members of the boards of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Customs Service under the Government of Tajikistan, according to the Tajik president’s official website.

The session also considered a draft law on the national budget for 2014 and highlights of the national budgets for 2015 and 2016.

Under the draft law on the national budget for 2014, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will stand at 48.5 billion somoni next year, inflation in 2014 will stand at 7.5 percent and deflation index will stand at 5.9 percent.

A total volume of the national budget for 2014 is expected to stand at 13.901 billion somoni (28.7 percent of GDP), which is 1.8 billion somoni, or 15.3 percent, more compared to this year’s budget.

The national budgets for 2015 and 2016 are expected to stand at 15.3 and 16.4 billion somoni respectively.

The meeting also considered and endorsed the country’s national borrowing program designed for 2014-2016.

The Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) governor reported on implementation of the government’s decree of November 30, 2007 on endorsement of the plan of development of new irrigated lands in Tajikistan.

This plan, in particular, provides for irrigation of 1,347 hectares of new lands in Gorno Badakhshan and allocation of 12.704 million somoni of state funds.

The meeting also endorsed the concession agreement for the Shurob heating plant with capacity of 300 megawatt.  More than 400 million USD of direct investments are expected to be attracted for construction of this plant, the president’s website said.