Monday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 5-15-23

The "Suspended Train" Is Waiting For The Budget

Reconstruction and building   Economy News – Baghdad  The Director General of the General Company for Iraqi Railways, Younis Khaled, said, on Monday, that the suspended train project has been adopted by the Ministry of Transport and has been included in the current year's budget.

 Khaled added, in an interview with the official news agency and its follow-up, "Al-Iqtisad News", that "once the budget is approved, this project will be implemented inside the capital, Baghdad, and it will be the first fruits of internal railway transportation."

He explained, "The first phase of the suspended train project will be 20 km long, with 22 stations inside Baghdad, on the sides of Karkh and Rusafa, and in important centers."

And he continued, "There will be other stages if the first stage is completed, and it is hoped to serve other areas in Rusafa as well as the Bismayah region, as well as linking Baghdad Airport with a train that departs from the International Station or from the Baghdad center, in order to reduce the burdens on the Iraqi citizen and reduce traffic."  Views 94  05/15/2023 -   https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=34209

The Finance Committee Begins To Detail The Budget In Preparation For Its Passage

Information / Baghdad.. The Parliamentary Finance Committee announced, on Monday, that it has begun to dismantle the budget items, stressing the need to analyze the incoming items and paragraphs that determine the government's expected spending and revenues.

The committee stated in a statement that it received the information that it "held a meeting chaired by Atwan Al-Atwani and in the presence of its members, regarding the completion of the Federal General Budget Law for the fiscal years 2023-2024-2025, and to present its proposals."

And she added, "The committee proceeded, at the outset of the meeting, to read the items of the budget and the first article related to revenues, selling oil at a price of (70) dollars per barrel, and the second article related to operational and investment expenses, the deficit and project ratios."

And she added, "The committee held detailed discussions on the budget, and it was stressed the need to analyze the items and paragraphs contained that determine the expected expenditure and revenues for the government and speed up their completion within a specific period of time." LINK

Parliament Holds A Crucial Meeting With The Conservatives To Finalize The Budget

Information / Baghdad ..   The Parliamentary Services and Reconstruction Committee hosted, on Monday, all the governors of Iraq to discuss the budget items and the listed projects.

The information agency correspondent stated that the Parliamentary Services and Reconstruction Committee met under the chairmanship of Representative Ali Al-Hamidawi, Chairman of the Committee, and the presence of members, to discuss financial allocations and the priority of provincial projects included in the Federal General Budget Law.

He added that the meeting is the last and decisive for all governors with the committee before going towards passing the budget during the coming days. LINK

Political Expectations Of A Series Session During The Passage Of The Budget

Information/Baghdad..    On Monday, the representative of the Law Coalition, Muhammad Al-Saikhoud, confirmed the existence of a prior political agreement to pass the budget law during the next few days, indicating that the budget is in the process of agreeing on the last points.

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 Al-Zion said in a statement to Al-Maalouma that "the State Administration Coalition, which brings together most of the political forces, has finally agreed to pass the budget law during the current week without putting any obstacles in place."

 He added, "The draft budget has been subject to extensive discussion by the relevant committees, and the volume of spending will be reduced, as well as the deficit to acceptable limits, in order to start approving it."

 He pointed out that "what matters to parliament at the present time is redressing the popular segments affected by previous governments and launching service and educational projects as quickly as possible."

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Shakhwan Abdullah, had confirmed the parliament's intention to vote on the federal budget law this week. LINK

Oil Smuggling And Pipeline Deterioration Are The Biggest Challenges For The Government

The first  2023/05/14    Baghdad: Muhannad Abdel Wahhab   Oil experts and deputies point to weaknesses in the oil export system in the national institutions, indicating that unifying the outlets will significantly reduce smuggling operations.

A member of the Oil and Gas Committee, Representative Bassem Al-Gharibawi, said that his committee visited Basra two months ago, "and was briefed on the most important matters, including the export system and the problems it suffers from in some pipelines that are intended to be included in the ministry's plans," calling for "the need to develop these systems."

Al-Gharibawi added, in an interview with "Al-Sabah", that "officials of Basra and South Oil confirmed the possibility of production reaching 5 million and 500 thousand barrels per day, if the export system is reformed," pointing out that the committee "met with the Prime Minister and urged him to reform the system to provide an opportunity for Iraq."

With export, because it is now restricted according to the OPEC organization with certain quantities of export, and it cannot be exceeded, and in any case it is not possible to increase exports, no matter how high the production is, due to the inefficiency of the production system.

Export.” He explained that “the subject of export is separate from smuggling because the latter is a different case and has specialized mafias,” adding that “there is a committee formed in the House of Representatives in the Oil and Gas Committee, which formed a sub-committee to follow up on smuggling, whether it is crude oil or products

In turn, the oil expert, Sabah Alwan, said: "Iraq has a system for the export process, but there is clear confusion, as this system is not qualified to keep pace with the production process," noting that Iraq "is currently trying to raise production to 6 million barrels per day, Despite the current production reaching 5 million with the Kurdistan region, Iraq actually exports 3 million and 450 thousand barrels.

https://alsabaah.iq/76850-.html

Vote On The Budget Within Days

Iraq  2023/05/15    Baghdad: Shaima Rashid    And Muhannad Abdel Wahab   The Parliamentary Finance Committee continues its meetings to finalize the draft budget, hoping that its draft will be completed by the end of this week as a maximum, so that a vote on it will take place on the 25th of May, amid expectations that the deficit included in it will remain and be satisfied with making transfers, at a time when deputies demanded fairness in the central and southern governorates in the budget. 

A member of the Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, told Al-Sabah: “The budget deficit is planned and not real, because it is a financial plan for one year,” noting that “there are two approaches within the committee; The provinces and ministries through transfers, and the second direction is that there should be a reduction in the deficit and the transfer procedure.

Cougar believes that the budget amount will remain the same and go to the option of transfers, according to the reasons he specified by saying:

“All practical indicators say that oil prices this year will be between 70 and 80 dollars, and therefore our resources will remain the same, and the second indicator is that - through our study For all previous budgets - the government's completion rate did not reach, and the spending did not exceed 80%, and therefore if implementation does not exceed this matter, 20% of the budget will reduce the real deficit, and originally there will be no real deficit," explaining that "the approval of the budget was long delayed, The government will not be able to spend all the budget during the remaining period.

And he continued: “With regard to the deficit in the next two years, this budget will be a budget for one year in terms of schedules, and as schedules, the government is mandated to provide schedules for future budgets, and the government will not have a budget in 2024 without sending schedules to it, and the same is the case for the 2025 budget, indicating that the “finance committee In order to avoid the planned deficit in the budget for the coming years, it will go to the option of adding two restrictions.

The first is that this deficit is related to the 2023 budget, and the second restriction is that the government must send the next year’s budget schedules at the end of it, and the same applies to the 2025 budget.

Regarding the date for its approval, Cougar said, "(The State Administration Coalition) set May 17 as a preliminary date for voting on it, but we believe that May 25 is an appropriate period for its approval."

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Shakhwan Abdullah, announced yesterday, Sunday, that the vote on the federal budget law will take place this week.

In addition, a member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Ali Al-Mashkoor, told Al-Sabah: “The budget situation with this amount of deficit will not pass easily, and therefore the Finance Committee went to host all ministers, officials, governors, and local administrations in order to legalize and reduce this deficit.” He warned that a deficit in this way would put the federal government in a "financial dilemma," as he put it.

At the same time, he stressed, "Supporting the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani by reducing the budget deficit, even if it is at the expense of some ministries or provinces."

In turn, Representative Alaa Al-Haidari said, in an interview with "Al-Sabah", that "there is a great injustice for the central and southern governorates in the budget, and there will be a position for the central and southern deputies, specifically the Basra governorate, which is Iraq's economic basket, and 93% of the budget's imports are from the Basra governorate, and we hope From the brothers in the Finance Committee, and with the support of all deputies, the fairness of the central and southern governorates.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Taif Sami, said, during her hosting of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, yesterday, Sunday: “The file for returning those whose contracts were terminated was included in the 2023 budget,” and pointed out that “the salaries of employees, retirees, and social protection will not be affected,” and she added: “We are continuing By installing contract holders for those who have two service cents.   Edited by: Muhammad Al-Ansari   https://alsabaah.iq/76914-.html

Parliamentary Condition For Passing The 2023 Budget: What Is Happening Is Unacceptable

2023-05-14  Posted On2023-05-15 By Sotaliraq   The representative of Wasit Governorate, Bassem Naghimesh Al-Gharibawi, confirmed, on Sunday, that the representatives of central and southern Iraq have a firm position not to vote on the general budget for the year 2023 unless an increase in the allocations of their governorates is obtained, indicating that only 2.5 trillion dinars are allocated to 15 governorates. In the budget is "unacceptable."

Al-Gharibawi said, "Wasit governorate is like other governorates in the center and south, but it has a specificity in that it is an agricultural and oil governorate that needs investment in these two areas, in addition to public services."

He added, "The representatives of central and southern Iraq have a firm position not to vote on the budget in the event that there is no increase in the allocations of their provinces," noting that "some regions of the central and southern governorates suffer from a severe lack of services, so they need to increase the allocations to serve the citizens."

He continued, "It is unreasonable for the Ministry of Housing and Construction to spend 3 trillion dinars, in contrast, to allocate only 2.5 trillion dinars to 15 governorates, as this is unacceptable."

He pointed out that “the government adopted, in its ministerial and governmental program, support for the agricultural sector, but when examining the budget, it becomes clear that 1 percent or less has been allocated to agriculture,” asking, “How can this amount be developed and advanced?”

Al-Gharibawi called for a transfer to raise this number, noting that “the Finance Committee hosted about 20 ministers, and the final results will be announced in the coming days regarding the places of the transfer and the observations of the Finance Committee and its response to the observations of the representatives.”

Regarding the oil sector, Al-Gharibawi pointed out, “There are 17 oil fields in Wasit Governorate, but the investor is only the (Badra and Al-Ahdab) fields. Therefore, we ask the federal government to include Wasit in the fifth round supplement and also in the sixth round, so that there will be investment and the provision of labor for the people of the province.”

The House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a special session this week to vote on the draft general federal budget law, after the Finance Committee completed its final report on the draft law, according to Deputy Speaker of the House Shakhwan Abdullah. LINK