TNT:

Tishwash:  Oil prices are expected to rise to $150 per barrel 

Wednesday, the Russian Energy Minister, Nikolai Shulgin, announced that the price , of oil may rise to 150 dollars per barrel, indicating at the same time that the current geopolitical and economic situation impedes the development of expectations

Speaking to Izvestia newspaper, Shulgin said: "It is possible that the oil price ranges between 80 and 150 dollars per barrel in the first place, but our task is not limited to estimating how much the oil will cost, but rather to ensuring the operation of the oil ".industry At the same time, he stressed Russia's readiness to export oil and its products to friendly countries at any price.

He added that the current uncertainty hinders expectations, especially taking into account the unconstructive behavior of Western countries, noting that previous forecasts did not take into account changes in the .geopolitical and economic situation Brent crude is currently sold at a price between 100 and 105 dollars a barrel, after its .price rose at the beginning of last March to 139 dollars a barrel  link

KaseyKo1:  "Dozens of citizens of Al-Fida neighborhood in central Nasiriyah organized a demonstration to demand an improvement in the service situation. A local source said, "The demonstrators blocked the hwy with burning tires. He added that "the demonstrators demanded the improvement of services in their areas & the completion of the street coverings."

KaseyKo1:  "Iraqi authorities were forced Saturday by people to open the Shalamcheh border crossing to Iranian trucks without inspections or usual administrative processes. The border crossing is north of Iran’s oil center Abadan and close to Iraq’s Basra province.

KaseyKo1:  "Following the protests, an official in Iraq’s customs administration ordered staff to expedite procedures at the crossing for the entry of agricultural and food products."

Muddyrivers:  Hey all, what is shakin?

KaseyKo1:  What's shakin' are several things: First, demonstrations in Iraq have started; secondly, "Al-Zamili: We will vote to authorize the Al-Kazemi government to send the budget law to the parliament."

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Tishwash:  Parliamentary Finance: The draft food security law will be merged with the budget if this happens 

Today, Wednesday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee revealed new details .related to the draft food security law that the government had previously sent

Committee member Muhammad Nouri said in an interview with (Baghdad Today) that "the food security bill is important, and efforts are in place to pass it within the .next two weeks He added, "We are waiting for its approval, and if it proceeds before the budget arrives, the amounts allocated to some ministries to which I have passed food security allocations will be deleted.

But if the budget law arrives these days, the provisions of the law can be combined with one law for the purpose of passing it as ".a budget law And he indicated that "the draft food security law will not be a substitute for the budget, and it has not been withdrawn because it is important and necessary to pass ".its paragraphs   link

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Tishwash:  Iraq without a president or government .. What is the parliament's ability to pass the budget during the current year

Among the crises that Iraq suffers from, is the crisis of not approving the country's budget for 2022, and the crisis of forming a government, which .has reached the stage of political impasse Although we are now in the month of April of this year, Iraq is without a budget, and only 7 months remain for this year.

Can Parliament approve the budget for the current year ?

One of the answers, is provided by the economist Dargham Muhammad Ali, .who ruled out the ability of Parliament to legislate this year Muhammad Ali told (Baghdad Today) news agency that "it is unlikely to approve a budget for the current year because of the many factors that ".prevent this

He added, "We are in the fourth month of 2022, and the budget has not been approved. The matter requires the formation of a new government that writes a draft budget law, and sends it to the House of Representatives, which discusses and amends it, and then sends it to the ".government He continued,

"There is not enough time to pass it this year," adding, "It could be approved in the last quarter of the year or the beginning of next ".year In the same context, the head of the State Forces Alliance bloc, MP Faleh Al-Sari, warned of the danger of the political crisis’s reflection on the delay .in approving the country’s general budget for the current year 2022 

Al-Sari, in an official letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, warned of the danger of the political crisis reversing the delay in approving the general budget for 2022 due to the complexities of naming the President of .the Republic and forming the government And he demanded the parliament's presidency "to issue a legislative decision obligating the government to send the budget for the purpose of ".starting the procedures for approving it in the service of the Iraqi people At the end of March 2021, the House of Representatives approved the country’s general budget bill for the same year, after about 4 months of .disruption with a financial volume equivalent to about 69 billion dollars For his part, the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakim Al-Zamili, announced today, Tuesday, that the House will vote to authorize the caretaker government headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al- .Kazemi to send the draft budget law for the year 2022

This came during today’s presidency, a meeting held by the Parliamentary Finance Committee, In the presence of its Chairman, Hassan Al-Kaabi, and all of its members, to discuss the provisions of the "Emergency Support for Food Security and Development" law, according to a statement issued by .the Council The statement quoted Al-Zamili as saying: This law will not be a substitute for the budget, and it came to a certain stage with the aim of addressing .the most prominent emergency cases and issues of the country 

He pointed out that the Council will vote on authorizing the caretaker government to send the draft budget law for the current year, as well as important laws that touch the need of citizens to the House of Representatives, calling on the Finance Committee to provide the Presidency of the Council with the final version of the bill after the necessary amendments have matured, to be included in the Agenda for the .nearest session for voting as well

The Chairman and members of the Finance Committee reviewed the most prominent provisions of the draft law and the meetings during which the executive bodies related to the law were hosted to study the necessary notes and the possibility of including them, while they confirmed that the law had reached its final necessary stages, in preparation for its approval .during the next few period

Iraq relies on about 90% of crude oil sales to support the national income, offset by the almost complete absence of national and local industries, and the failure of many investment projects that, if completed, would contribute .to alleviating pressure on its rentier economy

In the 2021 budget, the government calculated the oil price on the basis of $42 per barrel and an export rate of 3.25 million barrels per day, but .Parliament calculated it at a price of up to $45 And global oil prices have risen significantly since late last year, with a continuation of the escalation, with the price of a barrel exceeding the $120 barrier, the reasons for which are attributed to the return of the global  economic movement after a stumble of nearly two years due to the repercussions of the Corona closure and what followed later in the current developments in Eastern Europe with the start of the Russian war. in .Ukraine

Despite this financial abundance, Iraq is still stumbling in including these numbers and approving them in the 2022 budget, which threatens the disruption of many projects and the delay in the economic life cycle in the .country due to that delay   link

Mot:  It's fun to make big plans. But carrying them out? ..........

Mot:  Karma!! --- Ya KNow - I Just Love Karma! ~~