Its delay raised concerns... it is likely that the 2024 budget schedules will be approved today

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[size=52]Its delay raised concerns... it is likely that the 2024 budget schedules will be approved today[/size]

[size=45]The Iraqi government's delay in approving the budget schedules has raised questions about the existence of a cash crisis in the country, which may soon be reflected in employee salaries.[/size]
[size=45]The extent of fears was reinforced by the government's resort to citizens' pockets to fill the gap in the fiscal deficit after the recent decision to raise gasoline prices.[/size]
[size=45]Yesterday, Monday, the Financial Advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, revealed new details related to the budget lists and schedules for the year 2024, which are still under discussion in the Council of Ministers.[/size]
[size=45]Saleh suggested, during a press statement, that the Council of Ministers, in today’s session on Tuesday, will discuss and approve the budget law schedules, and then send them to the House of Representatives as soon as possible.[/size]
[size=45]The Sudanese advisor explained, “The percentage of the deficit in the budget tables is unknown, and it will be determined according to the tables that will be approved by the Council of Ministers, before sending them to the House of Representatives.”[/size]
[size=45]According to what was stated in Law No. 13 of 2023, the lists and tables of the tripartite general budget law should be submitted to the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]The Council of Ministers was scheduled to vote, in last Tuesday’s session, on the budget schedules for the year 2024, and send them to Parliament, according to what was announced by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, but the Council did not include that on its agenda.[/size]
[size=45]The statement from the office of Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani during last week's session did not include any details about the 2024 budget schedules.[/size]
[size=45]Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, agreed last Tuesday, with the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, on the necessity of completing the schedules of the budget law for the year 2024, and expediting sending them to the House of Representatives for the purpose of discussing and voting on them.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, a member of the Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kadhimi, revealed that there is coordination and understanding to extend the legislative term of Parliament to approve the 2024 budget schedules.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kadhimi said, in a press interview, “The current budget is an extension of the 2023 budget that was approved by the House of Representatives with a tripartite budget extending to the year 2025. The doors of disbursement are open to the government for the operational and investment aspects of ongoing and new projects, so the government’s work is not delayed.”[/size]
[size=45]He stated that “the delay in the schedules so far may be due to the changes taking place in the operational schedules for the year 2024, especially in the payrolls of 3 million and 200 thousand employees, which have become 4 million employees, the salaries of retirees to 2 million and 500 thousand retirees, and social welfare salaries that have risen to two million families, and these require 8 monthly.” Trillions and 500 billion dinars. These transformations are undertaken by the Ministry of Finance, while as for the investment and urban aspect, the Ministry of Planning is the one that must provide the required changes.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kadhimi continued: “The leaks and some information we received regarding the ongoing amendments to the 2024 budget and the increase achieved by the agreements compared to oil and non-oil revenues do not exceed 150 trillion Iraqi dinars, calculated at the official price of the dollar.”[/size]
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