Iraq.. A general budget with a large deficit and an absence of development visions

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[size=52]Iraq.. A general budget with a large deficit and an absence of development visions[/size]

[size=45]People's Road[/size]
[size=45]The political editor wrote:
In light of the political report issued by the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party (5):
A general budget with a large deficit and an absence of development visions.[/size]
[size=45]The figures of the financial tables of the 2024 general budget indicate increases in operating expenses and customer functional expansion, at the expense of allocating lucrative sums for actual investment operations and diversifying the Iraqi economy, and reviving productive fields in the public and private sectors, which increases the state's revenues and gradually reduces dependence on oil revenues, and creates job opportunities for millions of citizens, especially graduates who are pushed by educational institutions into the labor market, without studying and planning for actual needs. To achieve this and more, a comprehensive national campaign is necessary to combat corruption and the corrupt and to fully recover the funds owed by them. The
failure of the general budget and the method of its preparation and structure represents one of the most important indicators of mismanagement of public funds, and the absence of the state's economic and financial vision, based on scientific foundations. Peaceful and rational use of resources.
The 2024 budget tables submitted by the government and approved by the Council of Representatives showed areas of severe imbalance in the structure of allocations and in priorities that are not consistent with the requirements of achieving real development for the Iraqi economy and diversifying its production base, while there are serious concerns about the continuation of this approach in economic and financial policy and the possibility of its sustainability. It is worth noting that these budget tables were submitted, as in previous years, without final accounts, in blatant violation of the decision issued by the Federal Court, after the lawsuit filed by our Iraqi Communist Party.
One of the most prominent features of these tables is the inflation in their numbers, as total expenditures rose to about (212) trillion dinars, an increase of more than (13) trillion dinars over the 2023 allocations. Allocations for compensation for employees and workers in the state rose to (63) trillion dinars, thus representing about (30) percent of total expenditures and (40) percent of operating expenses.
The increase in allocations for social welfare and subsidies, and the amounts allocated to cover the purchase prices of agricultural crops from farmers, is also noted, while the allocations for the ration card remained constant at about (1.7) trillion dinars for all of Iraq.
In contrast to this social aspect of distribution, the tables reveal the continued increase in allocations for security and defense, which rose from (15) to (16) percent of total expenditures, which is more than the allocations for the health, education, industry and agriculture sectors combined. While the allocations for industry and agriculture remained no more than (1) percent for each of the two sectors. As for the construction and housing sector, which is of great importance in light of the severity of the housing crisis, especially for those with limited income and no income, and in which the private sector does not find an interest or profitable incentive to invest in building housing for the aforementioned groups, the allocations for it did not exceed (3) percent.
This budget reflected the increasing resort of successive governments to internal and external borrowing to finance their inflated budgets.
The deficit rose to an unprecedented record level, amounting to nearly (64) trillion dinars, after the selling price of a barrel of oil was adjusted from (70) dollars in the 2023 budget to (80) dollars per barrel, in an ill-considered measure that saved (17) trillion dinars to reduce the planned deficit, otherwise it would have reached (81) trillion dinars. In connection with this increase, debt service became (16.7) trillion dinars, representing (11) percent of the operating budget compared to (10) percent in 2023.
Continuing on this path is dangerous and has many pitfalls, especially if we know that the debt-to-GDP ratio is 48.2 percent, and could reach (81) percent in 2029 (estimates vary), and it seems that there is a misconception that reduces the damage of domestic debt. The
2024 budget tables also show that the volume of investment expenditures decreased by one percent to reach (55) trillion dinars, constituting (26) percent of the total budget. This is the same percentage in previous budgets.
In the tables, the percentage of oil revenues estimated at (120.5) trillion dinars, out of total revenues estimated at approximately (148) trillion dinars, decreased to (81) percent, but the ((non-oil)) increases did not come thanks to new productive economic and service activities. This increase will be reflected in one way or another on the citizen, who will be involved in paying part of the deficit by the government, although he is not responsible for it. Some may consider these resources a diversification of sources of financing the general budget, but they do not represent economic diversification.
On the social side of government spending, in addition to ill-considered employment, there has been a great expansion in the provision of social care, despite what is announced from time to time about thousands of people who exceed it, as the total number of beneficiaries exceeds (8) million citizens. It must be said that the method of obtaining social care also raises many doubts, in addition to its political and electoral use.
A careful reading of the general budgets confirms the urgent need for a comprehensive review of the methods and mechanisms for preparing and structuring the budget, and a sound redistribution of resources, with a serious effort to get rid of corruption, bureaucracy and low implementation rates.
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“Tariq Al-Shaab” newspaper, p. 1,
Thursday 8/8/2024[/size]
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