The Iraqi government announces a positive development regarding the 2021 budget

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Mazhar Muhammad Salih, the financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, said, Sunday (11/29-2020), that the Iraqi government is determined to send the draft 2021 budget bill to the Iraqi parliament this week in a long-awaited positive news Preparing for the approval of the budget and preventing a delay in the payment of salaries if it is approved before the end of the current year.

Saleh said, in an interview with (Baghdad Today), speaking about the problems of the budget next year, that “what delays sending the 2021 budget to Parliament are the exceptional financial circumstances in the last quarter of the current year,” indicating, “This is why the government is working in a crowd of time on Management of financial affairs. ”

He added, “The other matter is that these circumstances have prompted a review of many matters and issues, including the maximization of non-oil resources and the review of some expenditures, and this requires work, effort and a long time.”

He stressed, “The seriousness of the Iraqi government in sending the draft budget bill for 2021 to the Iraqi parliament this week.”

He continued, “Parliament is required to intensify its efforts in enacting this law and not delaying it, due to differences or other issues.”

Representatives criticized the delay in sending the budget beyond the scheduled date according to the Financial Management Law in mid-October.

A member of the House of Representatives, Abd al-Khaliq al-Azzawi, spoke last Friday that the political forces agreed, by more than 90%, on an early resolution of the next year’s fiscal budget.

Abdul Khaleq Al-Azzawi said, in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that “Iraq’s economic and financial situation is very bad, and the delay in paying salaries is a clear sign of the depth of the crisis that requires exceptional solutions in order to correct work paths and increase treasury revenues, in order to avoid entering Iraq into a slippery slope, perhaps. It is considered the most dangerous in its modern history. ”

Al-Azzawi added, “The 2021 budget has not yet reached the House of Representatives, but there is consensus between 90% of the political forces to resolve it early and deal quickly with all the differences it contains, and focus on basic principles, which are ensuring that salaries are paid without any delay, whatever the reasons.”

He pointed out that the political forces agreed to “seek any possible solutions to avoid borrowing, in light of the warnings of economists and financial experts about the danger of repeating the borrowing file and its impact on the reserves of the Central Bank and the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar later, in front of the rest of other foreign currencies.”

Before that, the reporter of the Finance Committee, Ahmed Al-Saffar, said that the committee needs nearly two months to study the 2021 Budget Law and submit it to Parliament for a vote on it.

Al-Saffar said in a special statement to (Baghdad Today), “Any talk about the budget in numbers is incorrect and hypothetical, because the bill is still with the Finance Ministry and has not been sent yet.”

He added that “the Finance Committee needs from one to two months to study the budget law and what is related to the volume of revenues and expenditures in the law.”

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