The government agrees with 22 international and local institutions to fill the budget deficit

The government has taken new austerity measures, including strict taxes on goods sold in malls, malls and men's and women's barbershops in the 2018 budget of up to 10 percent, and has committed to buying Cashier to verify its sales.

As a result of the difficult financial conditions that the government resorted to the agreement with 22 international and local institutions to borrow them to fill the federal budget deficit of 22 trillion dinars, while waiting for benefits estimated at 8 trillion payable. 
Meanwhile, the past few hours witnessed a great convergence between the Sunni and Shiite forces to pass the federal budget bill in isolation from the Kurdish forces that still hold the option of boycotting the meetings to break the quorum. 
According to informed parliamentary sources talked to (the extent) that "there is a big division within the Sunni forces between those who strongly advocate the passage of the budget law with the Shiite forces and those who stand with the Kurdish blocs," pointing out that "options are still open and not yet resolved."
The sources, who refused to reveal their identity, said that "the vote on the federal budget law will be during the next week in order to give parliamentary powers more time to agree on all paragraphs and points of contention." 
The House of Representatives decided last week to continue discussing the draft federal budget law in the coming sessions after hearing the report submitted by the parliamentary finance committee, including all the proposals submitted by the blocs objecting to pass the budget. 
The discussions with representatives of the Kurdistan region led to the adoption of part of their demands and included in the draft budget law, while some of its demands were not added. 
The government sent an amended version of the draft federal budget bill for 2018 to the House of Representatives on the eighth of this month included the demands of the political blocs, which stipulated to include in the law in exchange for voting on it.
The negotiating rounds conducted by Prime Minister Haider Abadi with the parliamentary blocs last week to include their observations in the legislation. 
These parliamentary forces, which have agreed with Abadi recently, require writing a signed agreement between them in which the prime minister will not contest the articles that have been agreed to be added to the federal court in return for voting on the general budget law. 
Majida al-Tamimi, a member of the parliamentary finance committee, said in an interview with Al-Mada about the amendments included in the government's amended version of the Federal Budget Law 2018. "There was an increase in public revenues amounting to 91.6 trillion dinars after it was fixed in the first draft, B (90.4) trillion dinars, "noting that" the difference came from non-oil revenues. "
It added that "the amendments raised the volume of public spending, which has become (104.1) trillion dinars after it was (103) trillion," stressing that "the new changes also included an increase in investment expenditures." 
The government sent the federal budget bill for 2018 to parliament at the end of last November, in conjunction with the entry of the House of Representatives on the holiday of the third legislative term, which led to the postponement of discussion for a whole month. 
The head of the House of Representatives Salim al-Jubouri had referred, earlier last month, the budget law to the Finance Committee of the parliamentary to prepare a final version and collect all the observations and objections that belong to the blocks and integration in the project.
The parliamentary blocs gathered their comments on the draft law. The remarks exceeded 35 observations that the government is required to include in the draft for discussion in the House of Representatives. The observations are focused on petrodollar allocations, reconstruction allocations in the liberated areas, and the budget of the Kurdistan region. 
The problem was compounded by the Government's refusal to take all the observations. The government, in its new amendments, imposed a tax of up to 10% on goods sold in malls, shopping malls and services provided in men's and women's barbershops and all hotels, and obliged them to purchase a cashier to fix Sales in it. 
The Speaker of the House of Representatives Salim al-Jubouri, the parliamentary finance committee, yesterday, to ensure that the need to withhold the salaries of employees and cancel the budget of 2018.
The House of Representatives voted in the budget of 2016 on the deduction of 3.8% of the salaries of employees in support of the Popular Struggle and the displaced and the battles of the liberation of Mosul. 
These amendments by the government on the draft federal budget law reduced the deficit in the budget of 2018, which was 13 trillion dinars. 
"The deficit is reduced to 12.5 trillion after the increase in public revenues which came after the addition of 10% as a tax on goods sold in malls and shopping malls," said the deputy of the Liberal bloc, pointing out that "the loans installed in this year's budget will be from 22 local and external bodies "He said.
The balance of the Ministry of Finance amounted to (742) billion dinars with the balances of the accounts of some ministries, estimated at (250) billion dinars with the amounts of external loans come to fill the budget deficit, "revealing that" the benefits of cumulative premiums for past years payable in the year Current up to 8.2 ". 
The budget of 2018 faces a similar fate to the budget of 2014, as it threatens objections by various parliamentary parties to be a fiscal year without a budget. " 
The House of Representatives is afraid to add materials to the draft budget and repeat the scenario followed by the government in the budget in 2017, as challenged the government of Haider Abadi before the court Federal in all movements conducted by the House of Representatives on the budget of 2017, which was estimated at 280 billion dinars.
In turn, explains the MP from the Union of Iraqi Forces Badr al-Fahl that "including all the demands of Sunni forces in the budget law prompts us to proceed with the vote with the National Alliance," noting that "the time has not yet been fully resolved by the parliamentary powers." 
"The Union of Iraqi forces agreed at the last meeting on the need to pass the budget law during the coming sessions," acknowledging "the existence of great difficulties facing the process of approving the budget law in the shadow of the boycott of the Kurdish blocs."