Thursday AM Iraq Economic News Highlights 12-1-22

Member Of Parliamentary Finance: The Budget Will Range From 100 To 120 Billion Dollars

Money and business   Economy News – Baghdad   A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Representative Jamal Cougar, saw, on Wednesday, that the budget for the next year 2023 ranges between 100 to 120 billion dollars.

Cougar said, “On the 15th of next December, we will enter the legislative term recess, so the budget should be sent before this date to parliament, so that we can read it first reading, and then a second reading after three days, and the parliament enters a legislative recess, and we as representatives In the Finance Committee, we will enter into our discussions."

In an interview with the "Rudaw" network, which was followed by "Al-Iqtisad News", Cougar explained that "after the decline in oil prices in global markets, the budget amounts will decrease as well," expressing his belief that "the budget will be between 100 to 120 billion dollars."

As for the expected deficit in the next budget 2023, Cougar stated that "according to the Financial Management Law, no more than 7.5 billion dollars are allowed, given that it is 3% percent of the national product, and the national product is estimated at about 250 billion dollars."

Views 368   Added 11/30/2022 - 6:19 PM   Updated 12/01/2022 - 2:00 PM

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Including The Budget And Oil .. Announcing The Details Of The Results Of The Negotiations Of The Delegation Of The Regional Government In Baghdad

Money and business   Economy News-Baghdad  Jutiar Adel, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government and a member of the Kurdistan Regional Government delegation to Baghdad, said: "A positive atmosphere prevailed in the meetings with the federal government delegation, and we sensed that they wanted to reach an agreement, and in the end we must reach a middle solution, and the Kurdistan Regional Government delegation will go to Baghdad." whenever needed."

Jutiar Adel added to the official website of the Kurdistan Regional Government: "We have been visiting Baghdad since last Sunday, according to the decision issued by the Council of Ministers and under the direction of the Prime Minister to form this delegation and go to Baghdad as soon as possible to participate in the formulation of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2023. That is why we visited Baghdad, where we stayed for four days, and today we returned to the Kurdistan Region.

The spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed, saying: "We discussed several issues in our meetings, including the budget and its details, in which two teams from the Ministries of Finance and Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government participated in preparing the numbers and notes that the Ministry of Finance has, and explaining the unclear points that need clarification or Reorganization, and these things were completed and prepared in two or three days.

Lists of appointments and staffings and lists of expenditures of the Kurdistan Regional Government were submitted to the Ministry of Finance in the federal government.

He went on to say: At the beginning of our visit to Baghdad, we discussed the basis for reaching an agreement, of course the basis of the constitution and the ministerial curriculum paper, which became the basis for talking about issues such as the budget, oil, crossings and financial control.

Today's meeting, Wednesday, November 30, was an important meeting with a high-level delegation from the Iraqi government. We discussed the four files and the necessary procedures to find out the responsibility of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the responsibility of the Iraqi government.

The spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government concluded by saying: "The meetings are continuing and will continue, and the delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government is ready to visit Baghdad whenever necessary and may visit Baghdad again soon so that we can discuss the issue of the budget again, and we expect it to be ready within a month or less,

and we hope that These discussions and visits will be fruitful, and finally the real share of the Kurdistan Region will be established according to the constitutional entitlements that must be adhered to or dealt with and other files.

It was a really positive atmosphere and we understood from the meetings that they wanted to reach an agreement, but how, what and in what way is the subject of discussion?And that in In the end, we must reach an intermediate solution according to the ministerial approach.”

Views 114   Added 12/01/2022 - 11:22 AM   Updated 2022/12/01 - 2:30 PM

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Representatives: The Legislative Recess Postpones Approving The Budget To Next March

Posted On2022-12-01 By Sotaliraq  Baghdad / Firas Adnan   ]Representatives affirmed that the legislative recess will prompt parliament to postpone discussing the budget law, expecting to vote on it and approve it in the first quarter of next year, ruling out major disagreements regarding it, noting that the most important paragraphs were settled according to the agreement document on which the government of Muhammad Shia al-Sudani was formed.

It is hoped that the House of Representatives will go into a legislative recess that begins on the ninth of this month for a period of thirty days.

Representative Abbas Al-Zamili stated, "The government is determined to complete the budget law as soon as possible in order to send it to the House of Representatives."

And Al-Zamili added, "Parliament will enter during the next month a legislative recess that extends to thirty days, but the committees will continue their work on all the laws that they are studying at the present time."

He pointed out, "Expectations are that the government will send the law at the beginning of next year, for Parliament to consider it after the end of its legislative recess."

And Al-Zamili went on to indicate that “there is a desire among the political blocs for this file to be completed and to vote on the budget law in the first quarter of next year, so that it can take its path to implementation.”

For his part, Representative Jamal Cougar stated, "All that is presented in the media about the budget law is just speculation, and there are no real numbers, as Parliament has not seen its amounts."

Cougar added, "Oil prices left Iraq with large resources during the past period, and therefore the size of the budget will be large compared to those approved in 2021."

And he stressed, "Parliament does not know when the budget will reach it, but its role after it is referred to it by the government is determined according to the constitution, so it may reduce its amounts or transfer between the doors."

And Cougar continues, “If the representatives want to increase the amounts, then this is based on real necessities and after taking the opinion of the Council of Ministers.”

It is not expected, that “there will be disagreements between the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives over the law,” and he attributed this to “the control of the forces that formed the government over the House of Representatives, and therefore the opinion will be unified and those balancing forces will pass without major problems.”

Cougar concluded, "The document of the political agreement on which the government was formed included many points, most notably the demands of the political forces regarding the budget, which will be included in the law for its approval."

On a related note, Representative Zainab Al-Moussawi said, "The draft budget for next year includes in its sections basic priorities, including financial allocations for the services file, the implementation of strategic projects, job grades, and confirmation of contracts."

And she expected that "the size of the financial budget for Iraq for the year 2023 will reach 88.75 billion dollars," noting that "it is hoped that the Iraqi parliament will vote on it at the beginning of next year."

And Representative Moein Al-Kazemi had stated in statements to (Al-Mada), yesterday, that “the Ministries of Planning and Finance have almost completed preparing the draft budget for next year.”

And Al-Kadhimi continued, "These two ministries are currently putting the final touches on the law by the relevant officials and under the supervision of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia'a Al-Sudani."

He pointed out, “Prior political agreements within the state administration coalition will be implemented regarding the budget without harming the public interest.”

Al-Kazemi agrees with Al-Zamili, that "the budget law will be voted on in parliament next March, that is, before the end of the first quarter of the year."

In addition, economic researcher Nasser Al-Kinani stated, "The state's financial position for the current year has been calculated on the basis of last year's budget."

Al-Kinani added, "The size of that budget is 132 trillion dinars, the total of which was spent is 116 trillion dinars, while the rest has been recycled."

And he pointed out, “This year, 25 trillion dinars were added to this amount, and it was mentioned in the emergency support law for food security, and 17 trillion and 800 billion dinars were spent from it, and 8 trillion and 200 billion dinars may remain.”

Al-Kinani confirmed, "The remaining amount of the emergency support law for food security will be added to the next year's budget."

He explained, "Calculating the price of a barrel of oil on the basis of 75 dollars, this will generate revenue of 127 billion dollars, and if we add to it the remainder of the food security law with other non-oil revenues, the amount will be 160 billion dollars."

Al-Kinani said, "This year is supposed to be good for Iraq, and these sums are supposed to be taken advantage of."

And he talked about "a government approach to support the operational budget with amounts of money that are the highest in Iraq," and it is expected that "important projects will proceed to serve the Iraqis."

Al-Kinani added, "The current political situation gives indications that the budget will pass without major differences between the blocs present in the House of Representatives."

The House of Representatives had extended its legislative term for a month, hoping that the draft budget law would be returned by the government, which has not been able, until now, to vote on it. LINK

Political Consensus To Pass The Oil And Gas Law During The Current Session

Posted On2022-12-01 By Sotaliraq   Baghdad / Hussein Hatem   New developments have occurred in the oil and gas law, which is still awaiting legislation inside the parliament dome since 2005. Yesterday, Wednesday, joint technical committees were formed to consider outstanding issues between Baghdad and Erbil, including the draft oil and gas law.

The Oil and Gas Law stipulates that the responsibility for managing the oil fields in the country must be entrusted to a national oil company, and it is supervised by a federal council specialized in this issue. However, since 2003, Baghdad and Erbil have disagreed on the issue of managing the region's oil fields.

And the Ministry of Planning stated in a statement, yesterday, Wednesday, that “Diwani Order Committee 22151 for the year 2022 headed by the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Planning, Muhammad Ali Tamim, and charged with resolving outstanding issues with the Kurdistan Region, held its first meeting in Baghdad, in the presence of a delegation from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”

Headed by the Minister of Planning in the region, Dara Rashid Mahmoud,” noting that “during the meeting, which prevailed in a positive atmosphere, outstanding issues were raised between the two sides, especially the oil and gas law, the budget, and other issues.”

He added, "It was agreed that the outstanding issues be dealt with, in accordance with what was stipulated in the Iraqi constitution, and the ministerial platform of the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, which was voted on by the House of Representatives,"

noting that "the meeting resulted in the formation of joint technical committees to consider the overall The issues that the committee will discuss, provided that meetings and joint meetings continue during the coming days, to reach radical solutions to all these issues.

Dhurgham al-Maliki, a member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, says, “The draft oil and gas law is one of the most prominent projects that the committee is working on preparing and approving,” noting that “many of the problems facing the oil and gas sector in Iraq will be resolved with its approval.”

Al-Maliki added that "there are drafts of the oil and gas law that include all the details, but it has not been agreed upon finally," explaining that "the committee will review these projects to complete a good draft law, in order to shorten the time."

He pointed out, "The Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee will seek to pass a draft law that preserves the rights of all parties, and is a factor in strengthening the unity of Iraqis."

Al-Maliki pointed out that “the draft law was not abolished, but was postponed and may be presented in the next legislative term,” adding, “The paragraphs of the law cannot be divided, but it is possible to amend and add paragraphs to it or delete paragraphs, but it will be fully approved.” In turn, Jamal Kujar, a representative of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, says, "The draft oil and gas law has not been legislated for decades, due to its connection to political matters that impede its legislation."

He added, "Iraq is an oil country and its main economy depends on oil, and it has no law." Cougar indicated, "The prime minister talks a lot about the enactment of this law, and we hope that it will be legislated despite its difficulty." And last April, the Federal Court ruled that the Kurdistan Oil Law, which has been in effect since 2007, is “unconstitutional.”

After the court's decision, the Ministry of Oil appointed the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Stein and Hamilton to communicate with some oil and gas companies operating in the Kurdistan region "to start discussions to bring their operations in line with applicable Iraqi law," according to Reuters.

The efforts apparently led to the withdrawal of the "Schlumberger" oil field services company from the Kurdistan region, in compliance with the Federal Court's decision.

Earlier last month, Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani said in a press conference, “There is a serious desire that we have felt from the Kurdistan region, and this matter is also available to the government and political parties to confront these files professionally and with solutions that guarantee justice for all parties, especially Baghdad and Erbil agree on the ceiling of the constitution to regulate this relationship.

With regard to the draft oil and gas law, he explained that, “One of the most important solutions in this file (the relationship between Baghdad and Erbil), and our deliberations are continuing with the Ministry of Oil to prepare a draft law that will be subject to preliminary discussion with the regional government before it is presented to the Council of Ministers, and then sent to the House of Representatives.

He pointed out that “the budget file and its draft law entail obligations, and just as the Kurdistan region calls for rights, it has obligations, and these must be applied in accordance with the law and the constitution so that Baghdad can fulfill its financial obligations, whether they are in the budget law or in the rest of the entitlements.”   LINK