Presidency of Parliament: The government intends to send the budget next week

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[size=52]Presidency of Parliament: The government intends to send the budget next week[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]It seems that Parliament does not know the date of the arrival of the budget law, after its members repeated previous statements stating that the government will send the draft next week, but they talked about several factors that led to the delay, most notably reformulating it on the basis of the new dollar exchange rate, expecting that the total amounts will be very high.[/size]
[size=45]However, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohsen Al-Mandalawi said in a statement that "the draft general budget law will reach the House of Representatives early next week," and this came after a phone call he made with Finance Minister Taif Sami.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mandalawi stressed the importance of the budget bill coming soon to the parliament and starting to discuss its items and make the necessary amendments to it by the Finance Committee, in order to ensure the proper application of the government curriculum, especially supporting the poor classes and segments and ensuring the continuity of providing basic materials through the food basket, as well as securing salaries. Staff and financial allocations necessary for new appointments ».[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Al-Karawi, stated that “Parliament has not, until the present time, obtained a fixed date for the arrival of the draft budget.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Karawi added, "The information we obtain through the meetings confirms that the project will arrive in the next few days."[/size]
[size=45]He explained, "The law may arrive during the current or next week, and we look forward to expediting its dispatch by the government."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Karawi pointed out, "The House of Representatives is ready to discuss this law, through the Finance Committee, which will study it and produce a report that serves the public interest, using its constitutional powers."[/size]
[size=45]In turn, the other member of the committee, Jamal Cougar, said, according to press statements followed by (Al-Mada), that “the budget will reach Parliament at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, if the government so desires, after its approval in the Council of Ministers.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar added, “The leaks that reach us indicate that the total amount of the budget will be in the range of 210 to 215 trillion Iraqi dinars, after reducing the price of the dollar to 1,300 dinars, that is, in the range of 130 to 140 billion US dollars.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The price of a barrel of oil will be $70 per barrel," stressing that "the region's share of the budget will be around 14% of the budget, and there is no dispute over it among the political blocs, given that this percentage is within the region's share in the Ministry of Commerce."[/size]
[size=45]Cougar pointed out, "Parliament needs at least one month, if the budget arrives."[/size]
[size=45]Cougar concluded, "The law will be passed by political consensus after solving problems, most notably the shares of the provinces and the Kurdistan region."[/size]
[size=45]For his part, MP Muhammad Al-Shammari stated, "The budget bill is still in the custody of the Council of Ministers and has not been sent to Parliament."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari added, "Parliament is ready to discuss the law," and talked about "some obstacles that impede the project's arrival."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The most prominent obstacle is related to the continuation of dialogues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding the share of the region."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari explained, "The law also suffers from other problems related to including salaries for contract holders who have been appointed, other job grades, and wages."[/size]
[size=45]And he talked about “accumulations from the past years, especially during the last year that did not witness the adoption of a budget law, which are currently being included in the current project.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari went on to say, "Iraq is on the verge of a large budget that will absorb all the problems it faced, whether previous governments or the current government."[/size]
[size=45]Representative Amer Abdul-Jabbar said, "The delay in sending the budget law to the House of Representatives is expected since the end of last year, given the changes that took place in recent months."[/size]
[size=45]Abdul-Jabbar added, "The government took a number of ill-considered decisions, the latest of which was the decision to reduce the exchange rate of the dollar to 1,300 dinars, based on a recommendation from the Central Bank."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "This decision cost the government 15 trillion dinars," explaining that "the simple citizen did not benefit from this decision because prices in the local markets are still high amid the greed and dominance of some merchants."[/size]
[size=45]And Abdul-Jabbar pointed out that “a new class of dollar brokers has been produced by this decision and deals with a profit margin between the official exchange rate in the central bank and the parallel one, which exceeds 1,500 dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stressed, "This class will maintain its existence, by being supported by parties that help smuggle currency to neighboring countries."[/size]
[size=45]Abdul-Jabbar said, "The budget law has returned to square one after calculating the exchange rate of the dollar."[/size]
[size=45]He noted, "The government can send the budget quickly, but on condition that it is ready for discussion."[/size]
[size=45]Abdul-Jabbar stressed, "The law was built on a fantasy of projects based on a high price per barrel of oil, because Iraq has no other revenues."[/size]
[size=45]He believes, "If the price falls below $55, the government will be unable to pay salaries to employees."[/size]
[size=45]And Abdul-Jabbar went on to say that “employees’ salaries have increased from 41 trillion to 62 trillion, and this means that the increase is 20 trillion dinars, and therefore we find that the government will not succeed in setting the state’s financial program during the current year, and this will result in the outbreak of protests against the economic situation.” ».[/size]
[size=45]And the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, had confirmed that he “desires a budget that is compatible with the government program and not like the previous budgets that were approved, as it is not reasonable to put forward a program, priorities, and the budget in another valley,” pointing out, that “all previous mistakes were the incompatibility of the budget with government programmes.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sudani pointed out, “There are clear projects within the priorities set within the general budget, and this is the first point. As for the second, it is addressing many problems over the past period, which are related to contracts, wages, confirmation, etc., and these are cost accounts that must be included within the budget. As for the third, real reforms have been put in place and funds have been established. Mission, including a fund for the poorest provinces and the Iraq Fund for Development, which we rely on in a real development renaissance to solve housing and school problems, and these matters need to be studied to provide a budget that meets what we promised.[/size]
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