Parliament expects the 2023 budget to arrive in early March: it needs 25 days to discuss it

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[size=52]Parliament expects the 2023 budget to arrive in early March: it needs 25 days to discuss it[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]The House of Representatives is likely to receive the draft budget for 2023, early next month, from the government, to discuss it and make the necessary amendments to it before approval.[/size]
[size=45]Parliament needs a maximum of 45 days to read, discuss and make amendments to the draft public financial budget when it reaches the House of Representatives, according to the Finance Committee.[/size]
[size=45]The financial budget for the year 2022 was not approved by the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives due to the turmoil that Iraq witnessed after the early elections in October 2021, and the delay in forming the government for more than a year.[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Maeen Al-Kazemi, says, “There are two aspects that will directly contribute to approving the budget for the current year,” noting that “the first aspect is the need for the budget to match the government program presented by Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’a Al-Sudani; To meet the terms of this program with implementation and financing.[/size]
[size=45]As for the second aspect, according to Al-Kazemi, “it is represented in changing the exchange rate from 1450 to 1300 dinars per dollar,” noting that “this matter led to a deficit in revenues, which was 149 and fell to 135 trillion Iraqi dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee stressed, “the need to recalculate spending in proportion to revenues, whether on the operational or investment side,” noting that “the share of the Kurdistan region in the budget will reach 12%.”[/size]
[size=45]On February 7, the Council of Ministers approved the decision of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Iraq to amend the exchange rate, equivalent to 1,300 dinars to one dollar. And the representative of the Al-Fatah Alliance stated, “The Ministry of Finance intends to send the draft budget law to Parliament during the remaining days of this month; For the council to study and approve it during next March.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Faisal Al-Naeli, says, “The House of Representatives needs a maximum of 45 days to read, discuss and make amendments to the paragraphs that need to be amended in the 2023 Budget Law upon their arrival, and then return them to the government in preparation for the final stage before approval.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Naeli added, in a statement to (Al-Mada), that “the files related to the budget have been resolved, and the government will send the budget law to Parliament at the beginning of next month.”[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Finance Committee added, "The government seeks to resolve and resolve all points of disagreement between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government before sending the budget law to Parliament."[/size]
[size=45]In turn, a member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, Ahmed Al-Fawaz, says, “The government has put the final touches to the draft budget bill for 2023,” noting that “the House of Representatives is fully prepared to receive the budget and discuss it in order to pass it.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Fawwaz stressed, “The need to expedite the approval of the budget; To provide services and move the idle and lagging projects,” suggesting “the arrival of the draft general budget early next month to the House of Representatives.”[/size]
[size=45]The member of the House of Representatives added, “Parliament has the power to add and amend any paragraph in the draft budget,” noting that “the budget will include investment projects, as well as confirming the contracts of a number of ministries and lecturers.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Fawwaz pointed out, "The political blocs have made many understandings with the Kurdish delegations to resolve the outstanding issues between the central and regional governments, in order to fully conduct the draft budget."[/size]
[size=45]The representative of the State of Law coalition explained that “determining the exchange rate in the budget is taken according to the paths and the economic situation in the country,” noting that “all possibilities are contained in adjusting the exchange rate.”[/size]
[size=45]Last Monday, First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, announced that the draft general budget law will reach the House of Representatives early next week, while stressing the importance of discussing it to support the poor classes and segments, employees and the food basket.[/size]
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