A final review of budget materials prior to voting on them this week

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[size=52]A final review of budget materials prior to voting on them this week[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]The Parliamentary Committee has reached the final stages of preparing the budget law, and is in the process of submitting its report in the coming hours to the Presidency of Parliament and the State Administration Alliance, confirming that the voting process will be completed within the next two days, and talked about additional materials that were placed on the draft, which contains 67 articles.[/size]
[size=45]A statement by the House of Representatives, received by (Al-Mada), stated that “First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohsen Al-Mandalawi met with the chairman and members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, to complete the discussion of the articles of the draft federal budget law for the fiscal years 2023-2024-2025.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mandalawi said, according to the statement, that “the Parliamentary Finance Committee is making exceptional efforts to produce and mature the provisions of the budget bill in a discreet manner, as it is for three fiscal years.” Al-Mandalawi added, “The members of the committee have completed voting on most of the articles of the law, and they are continuing their meetings to resolve the few remaining paragraphs, and submit the final report to the Presidency of the Council to set a date for voting on the budget.”[/size]
[size=45]On a related note, member of the Finance Committee, Representative Jamal Cougar, stated that "the committee began a few days ago with the final drafting of the materials, and most of the paragraphs have been completed."[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar added, “Setting a date for the vote could take place within the next two days, after we complete all the related matters.” And he pointed out, “The committee, according to what is stipulated in the rules of procedure of the House of Representatives, is submitting the draft to the Presidency in order to determine and vote on the law.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar believes that “the law will be fully voted on during the current week, perhaps that Monday or Tuesday.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, “The law came from the government with 67 articles, and there will be additional articles that will be developed by the Finance Committee by virtue of its terms of reference, provided that the treasury does not cost additional burdens.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar indicated, “The additional materials relate to the proposals of deputies and specialists that we received, and the government did not refer to them in its draft that it submitted to Parliament.”[/size]
[size=45]And he pointed out, “The methodology obliges us to first finish the materials that were received from the government by completing their formulation in the fullest way, and then we go to the additional materials.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar stated, "Our task in the committee ends with completing the final draft and submitting it to the Presidency of Parliament. As for the voting process, it pertains to Parliament in general, after the date of the session is determined."[/size]
[size=45]He denied, “the existence of obstacles to the voting process,” noting that “some of the political blocs were trying, at the beginning of the draft’s entry to parliament, to link its approval to the implementation of the political agreements of the state administration coalition, but this was overcome after the completion of the first and second readings.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar continues, “The second reading means that we listened to the opinions of all deputies, and then held meetings with ministers, governors and other officials to find out the needs of state institutions for allocations.”[/size]
[size=45]And he continues, “The committee has set for itself over the past days an extensive schedule that included more than one hosting, because we were in front of 18 governorates, 22 ministries, and a good number of independent bodies and institutions, so sitting with all of these parties requires a long time.”[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar went on to say that “the law included financial revenues of 135 trillion dinars, most of which are from oil revenues, with expenses amounting to 199 trillion dinars, and this difference will be addressed through several chapters, most notably the activation of taxes, fees, collection and other non-oil revenues.” He added, "The political blocs wanted to finish legislating the law last week, but the committee is not concerned with these agreements because it works according to technical frameworks and wants to produce the project in accordance with the public interest and achieve the best positive results for the Iraqi economic reality."[/size]
[size=45]And Cougar concluded, that “the second reading of the law goes through three stages, which is listening to the opinions of deputies, and that was over three sessions, and the second stage is related to hosting so that we are aware of all the numbers, and it took 30 sessions, and we have now reached the third and final stage, which is It is the final formulation of the project.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, another member of the committee, Representative Mueen Al-Kazemi, stated that “the report of the Parliamentary Finance Committee regarding the budget law will be in two copies, the first to the Presidency of Parliament in order to set a date for the vote, and the other to the State Administration Alliance.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kadhimi continued, "The recent meetings of the State Administration Coalition, which has the largest number of deputies in parliament, showed its keen interest in the necessity of approving the budget law, and these meetings set an initial date that was the end of last week."[/size]
[size=45]And he believed, “There is no objection to extending the date to the current week in order to allow the Finance Committee to develop the final wordings of the law in a manner that is consistent with the public interest.”[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Kazemi added, “The committee hosted the Minister of Finance, Taif Sami, more than once, and discussed with her about the law and the schedules contained in it, and it was agreed to start early in setting instructions for implementing the budget in order to implement it once it is published in the Official Gazette, because the situation cannot bear more delay.” ".[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "Parliament had voted to extend its legislative term, as it will not enter into its legislative recess until after the budget is approved, in accordance with the provisions of the Iraqi constitution." And Al-Kadhimi indicated that “the budget amounts will remain the same without making amendments to them, because Parliament wants to support the government in implementing its platform that includes the establishment of investment projects in important areas such as electricity, the construction of schools and hospitals, the construction of road and housing projects, and others that were mentioned in the ministerial curriculum of the government of Muhammad Shia’a.” Sudanese.” And he stressed, “The deficit will be covered during the current year from the rest of the emergency support for food security and development law that Parliament voted on last year, in addition to the round as a result of high oil prices, and that the budget will be approved for seven months of this year only, and therefore we will have funds.” sufficient to fill the deficit of 64 trillion dinars.[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Kazemi continues, “The government can make amendments to the budget, which will extend to three years, in the month of October of each year and refer it to Parliament for approval, in order to keep pace with any development that takes place in the economic situation.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stressed, "Parliament is keen to support the government's efforts by providing appropriate financial allocations in implementing the projects it wants."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kazemi concluded, "This budget is the highest in the history of Iraq, and its approval will help implement the projects that the Iraqis demanded in order to support their service status."[/size]
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