KTFA:

Samson:  Iraq's budget... a tossing ball and scattered accounts

08/12/2022 12:26:01

A government without a financial budget has become not a strange thing in the Iraqi state in recent years, despite the severe economic and development damage to the country as a result.

The budget specifies the items of state expenditures during a year, especially for salaries, subsidies, and the payment of debt burdens, as well as the target of state revenues.

Despite the government’s success in obtaining about $ 18 billion within the Emergency Security Law for Food Security and Development approved by Parliament on June 8 to secure energy imports, finance important service projects, and fund the Social Welfare Fund, officials confirm the country’s continued need for the draft budget. Earlier, at nearly $90 billion.

Above all, the final accounts of the previous budgets have not been resolved, although they must be submitted after the end of each fiscal year and before the approval of the new budget.
 
In this regard, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, clarifies about the presentation of the final accounts of the current government, indicating that there are two main factors that have contributed to the failure to approve the final accounts on a regular basis 10 years ago. 

 Saleh said on June 30 that "the current government's presentation of the final accounts requires the submission of final accounts extending from the year 2015-2020, taking into account that the year 2020 there is no general budget, which requires the submission of a draft law called the current budget, which is a legal expression of a final account and budget in At the same time, the revenues and expenditures are now realized.

Saleh said that "the oversight task of the House of Representatives in this regard will be a little arduous in following up the completion of the country's final accounts for the years 2013-2021, but it will certainly be fruitful after passing the final account for the fiscal year 2013 and enacting a budget law for the current situation for the year 2014 so that the government can refer the rest of the government accounts sequentially only previous years".
 
And the Federal Supreme Court - its decisions are binding on all authorities - stripped Al-Kazemi’s government of all powers, as it is a caretaker government with limited powers, and it is not entitled to propose important bills with the invalidation of all appointment orders of higher grades issued during the period of the conduct of business.

 In his speech at the cabinet meeting yesterday, Al-Kazemi held the political situation responsible for the delay in the budget, and said: “We are now in the eighth month of 2022, and there is no budget, and the imbalance is not in the government, but because of the existing political situation, so how do we build schools, pave roads and build projects with Absence of political consensus on forming a government or finding a solution to the political impasse.

 He promised, "The issue of the budget is a very serious matter, and we have good financial abundance and we need to invest it in rebuilding infrastructure and achieving the demands of our people."

With regard to the federal budget for the fiscal year 2023, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Haitham al-Jubouri, ruled out its approval, saying to Al-Furat on July 25: “It can only be approved by the presence of a new government and not necessarily adopting the same approach as the current government, it may take austerity for the sake of the article; but if the government remains we will proceed with laying down the doors of the law." 

MP Ahmed Hama Rashid agrees with Al-Jubouri regarding the impossibility of approving the budget, saying, “The current government is unable to approve the country’s budget for this year, because it does not have the powers to legislate laws as approved by the Federal Court,” describing Al-Kazemi’s talk about the necessity of approving the budget.

"Scattered ashes in the eyes, nothing more." While the economic expert, Ali Al-Fraiji, considered that the political crisis over the formation of the next government has plunged Iraq into "a new chaos over how to invest the state's revenues and capabilities." Al- Fraiji pointed out that "it is difficult to approve the budget for this year in light of the political turmoil that Iraq is witnessing," noting that Iraq is entering economic chaos today, adding to the negative accumulations of previous years.

State matters, including the salaries of employees and retirees, stated that a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, said: “Compensation for the affected economic sectors needs a financial cover, and we have two legal covers to provide the allocated amounts. ”Presenting alternative laws by the government if they are in full force.

He added, "As for the presence of a caretaker government, they should cooperate with each other to present financial laws as a proposed law from Parliament," stressing "the need for coordination between the government and parliament to cover and expand any sector that institutions need."

And the economists' warnings escalated that the country would remain without a financial budget, and not address the effects of that, especially since its approval needs a few more months, in the event that the political crisis in Iraq is overcome.

Here, the expert in economic affairs, Abdul Hassan Al-Shammari, says that "this delay will hit the investment sector, and will contribute to the spread of unemployment among young people, and will even raise poverty indicators to higher levels." Al-Shammari believes that "addressing the effects of this will be difficult, and not as easy as some officials are talking about, so the political blocs should be aware of the danger of the current stage, and avoid taking risks."

Financial budgets represent the main tool for achieving the state's general policies, whether economic, social, or service, and serve as a presentation of the government's annual plans and programs, which it prepares in response to current challenges.

Budgets give governments the best planning to achieve the maximum revenue, and to reorganize their distribution according to spending priorities in order to serve the community. Most importantly, the budget is a tool that reflects the power and symbolism of the state through spending spending on all departments and institutions according to spending plans that are developed in a manner consistent with Citizen priorities, which means economic aspects will be disrupted if they are not approved.

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BlaqueBeauty:  "From trillions to billions"    

Tivon:   If it's 18 billion sitting there. They are waiting for one thing to actualize those funds. They can't even present a general budget until they have the final accounts.

Which means the EFSL will have to come into play given that no funding for departments, projects, or investments can be made available until the CBI reinstate the IQD. Remember I kept saying the surplus in oil, or the gold reserve and hard currency can currently support a rate change.

Now you know from this article it has to be done prior and not after a budget is open.

What solution they have at the moment? Dissolution & Interim Gov. This is How I personally see it. Because it requires a defacto government in the least. Which Al-Kazemi will present as an interim (Emergency GOI) because they can't form a GOI until elections are done anyway.

So you can sense the urgency. Thank you all for the support. IMO

Wagmister:   August 15 is looming.  

Tivon:  Right. All banks by or on that date will be ready to interlink digitally through BUNA Which is why I think the workshop is being done. Post 56. The reinstatement can be made efficiently and instantly. Especially when you read an article last month with Iran ready to go. I'm excited about the 15th and every hour after that day. Al-Sadr knows something as I'm sure Mustafa, Kazemi, and Sadr all know the playbook. What else could he reward them with after dissolution? Imo

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Samson: "Al-Firdaws" demonstrators announce their final statement and stress the need to dissolve the "incompetent" parliament and hold early elections

12th August, 2022

Civilian demonstrators in Al-Firdaws Square in central Baghdad stressed, on Friday, the necessity of dissolving the House of Representatives, which they described as "incapable", and holding early elections on its terms and conditions.

This came in a final statement signed by 10 parties (the Iraqi Communist Party, the Social Democratic Current Party, the Iraqi Nation Party, the National Civil Movement, the Nazl Movement to Take My Right to Democracy, the Faili Front, the Iraqi House Movement, the Democratic Current, the Consultative Council of Tishreen Movements, the National Forces and the Tishreen Democratic Movement).

The statement, which was received by Shafak News Agency, stated, "For more than a decade, the people and their civil and national forces have been emphasizing that this entire system is in dire need of real reforms, but none of the power parties and its politicians responded. The sectarian and racist laws and alignment will lead to the collapse of the country at the general levels and will generate exacerbated conflicts between the political forces, which in turn will negatively affect the life of the citizen. All the dominant forces in power bear the responsibility for what happened.”

He added, "Today, in the face of a deep crisis in the quota system and corruption, represented by the state of political impossibility, we affirm that change has become a national necessity, from which there is no retreat... and that not responding to the people's call for change, the political cost will be exorbitant for those who reject it, and for to achieve change in response to the aspirations of our people for a dignified, independent and prosperous life, and to preserve civil peace, must be based on the principles of peace, democracy and citizenship..and consecrate the unifying national identity, and preserve rights..freedoms..and achieve social justice.

The statement clarified that "the civil and democratic forces, as they continue their peaceful struggle, believe that the will of the people is the decisive factor in the conflict, which we will not engage in except from a national standpoint keen on the future of Iraqis... a struggle for salvation from quotas and its failed forces... a struggle against the killers of the demonstrators..a struggle against the corrupt, regardless of their affiliation..a struggle for the confinement of arms in the hands of the state..a struggle for the state of citizenship, rights, and just law.

The statement continued, "We reiterate once again the necessity of dissolving the impotent Parliament, and holding free and fair elections within one year, on its terms and conditions (a fair electoral law, an independent commission, the application of the parties' law) ... elections that reflect the true representation of the will of Iraqis. Any return to the failed approach to governance.. the Iraqis who have been engulfed in the fire of crises.. have the final say and it is up to them to decide.

Dozens of civil parties and currents demonstrated earlier on Friday, in the center of the capital, Baghdad, to demand the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament. The demonstrators raised banners calling for the dissolution of Parliament and the end of quotas.

This comes in conjunction with demonstrations by the Sadrist movement in the Green Zone and the rest of the Iraqi provinces, as well as demonstrations by the coordination framework at the Green Zone gate from the side of the suspension bridge and the governorates of Basra and Nineveh.  LINK