Monday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 6-19-23
Basem Khashan Reveals A Government Approach To Challenge The Budget Law
Policy, 06/19/2023, the number of readings: 228 Basem Khashan reveals a government approach to challenge the budget law 74872
Baghdad – Iraq today: Independent MP Bassem Khashan confirmed that there is more than one party that wants to challenge the financial budget law, including the federal government.
Khashan said in a statement to a news agency, “The budget law has not yet been entered into force until it is published in the Iraqi Gazette, and there are more than one party that wants to challenge the law because of some paragraphs and articles.” He added, “The federal government headed by Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani will also challenge the financial budget with the Federal Court.”
It should be noted that Representative Hadi Al-Salami confirmed in a previous statement that he intends to appeal three articles in the Budget Law to the Federal Court. LINK
Parliamentary Finance sets the date for implementing the budget..and reveals its transfers
Posted On2023-06-19 By Sotaliraq Yesterday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed the release of salaries for 720,000 new employees after the Presidency of the Republic approved the budget, while it expected the ministries to start implementing its provisions in early July.
A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mueen Al-Kazemi, said, in a statement followed by (Al-Mada), that “the budget law sent by Parliament to the Presidency of the Republic includes 78 articles after adding 11 articles to the copy sent by the government.”
Al-Kadhimi indicated that “transfers will be made at a value of 6 trillion dinars for the purpose of increasing governorate allocations and approving the budget. The salaries of 720,000 new employees will be released from lecturers, contracts, holders of higher degrees, seniors, and other categories,” pointing out, “The Finance Committee added 150,000 job degrees to the budget in response.” for different segments.
And he continued, “There are more than 500 spending units, and after the approval of the President of the Republic, the process of implementing the budget will be followed up by the Finance Committee and the remaining parliamentary committees, each according to its competence.”
And Al-Kazemi went on, that “the government may appeal against articles that added financial burdens, and appealing to any article will stop the implementation of that budget and not all of its provisions,” suggesting that “the ministries start implementing what was stated in the budget at the beginning of next July.”
On a related note, the other member of the committee, Jamal Cougar, stated that “the budget will meet the aspirations of many, but it did not meet the aspirations of all; There are large segments awaiting appointments, while the government’s approach is to stop them.”
And he stressed “the need to support the private sector and investment projects to provide job opportunities,” stressing that “the law has now reached the Presidency of the Republic, and we are waiting for the ratification and issuance process to be completed.”
Cougar concluded, “The budget is par excellence political and expresses the political orientation that governs the authority.”
For his part, Representative Ali Turki said, in a press statement, that “approving the “general budget for three years is an important achievement for the government and parliament,” pointing out that “the law was passed amid difficult circumstances amid objections and discussions about the articles.”
Turki added, “There is a fear of appealing to one of the articles of the law, as it will open a wide door to challenging the rest of the articles by some political blocs or independent personalities because they are not convinced of some of the provisions.” And he pointed out, “Many segments of society and the governorates have great interests in the law, and it is awaiting approval and publication in the Official Gazette to be effective.”
In a related development, the independent member of the House of Representatives, Hadi Al-Salami, announced that he had submitted three appeals against the general budget law, which was approved by Parliament last week. Al-Salami said that he will file 3 appeals against the General Budget Law before the Federal Court “for its violation and inconsistency with the laws in force.”
He explained that “the three articles relate to extinguishing advances and granting exceptions to ministers and governors to invest with the private sector.”
Al-Salami continued, “Article Three is related to granting authority to governors and fund heads to contract directly and to be excluded from controls and instructions.” And a document circulated on Friday showed that the General Secretariat of the House of Representatives sent the general budget law to the Presidency of the Republic for the purpose of ratification.
And the Iraqi Parliament approved at dawn on Monday of last week, the financial budget law for three years, with high expenditures and investments driven by the increase in oil prices.
Parliament approved the law, which should cover the three years 2023, 2024 and 2025, about three months after the government submitted the draft budget. The value of the proposed expenditures in the new budget is 198 trillion and 910 billion dinars ($153 billion) per year. As for the share of the Kurdistan region, it amounts to 12.67 percent. The total budget revenues amount to 134 trillion and 5 billion dinars ($103.4 billion), based on the price of a barrel of oil of $70, as oil revenues constitute 90% of the country’s revenues.
The deficit is estimated at $49.5 billion, which is a record compared to the last budget that was voted on in 2021 (and the 2022 budget was not agreed upon due to instability), as the deficit at that time amounted to $19.8 billion.
The International Monetary Fund had warned last month of “reliance” on “oil revenues” in Iraq, calling on Baghdad to “devise a more stringent fiscal policy.”
The expenditures in the budget include investments worth 49 trillion and 350 billion dinars (37.9 billion dollars), which will go especially in building roads, housing projects, schools and hospitals, which constitute a “priority” for the Sudanese Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a, in a country whose infrastructure suffers from deterioration due to decades of war. wars. LINK
The President Of The Republic: Iraq Is On The Verge Of An Urban Renaissance After Approving The Budget
Policy 2023-06-19 | 408 views Alsumaria News – Politics The President of the Republic, Abd al-Latif Jamal Rashid, confirmed today, Monday, during his meeting with the head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kamal Kharazi, that Iraq is on the verge of an urban renaissance after the House of Representatives approved the general budget.
The media office of the President of the Republic stated, in a statement received by Alsumaria News, that “the latter” received, in the Baghdad Palace, the head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kamal Kharazi, and his accompanying delegation, stressing “the development witnessed by the Iraqi provinces and cities in light of the consolidation of security and stability in the country.” He also welcomed the delegation’s visit to the city of Basra.
He pointed out that “the depth of social, geographical, historical, religious ties and economic interests that bind the two neighboring peoples and the nature of relations between the two countries.”
And the President of the Republic stated that “Iraq is on the verge of an urban renaissance after the parliament approved the general budget,” adding that “the establishment of strategic studies centers is one of the indicators of the development of countries as it provides a clear vision for decision-makers in light of the many changes the world is witnessing in the fields of energy and water.” .
For his part, the head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed his happiness for this visit and meeting with the President of the Republic, stressing that the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the security and stability of Iraq.
Kharrazi referred to “the efforts made by the late Mam Jalal to expand relations,” and praised ”
The head of the Strategic Council stressed “the interest in developing relations between the two countries,” noting that “Iraq is the gateway to communication with the Arab countries, as he praised in this context Iraq’s efforts to bring views closer to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” LINK
Al-Sudani’s Advisor Talks About The Phenomenon That “Threatens Price Stability”
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad On Sunday, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, recommended activating the Anti-Monopoly and Competition Law of 2010 to prevent monopoly and control prices, while noting that what he called the dark market dominates more than 60% of private sector activities.
Saleh told the official news agency, “The Iraqi market suffers from a phenomenon called market deficiencies, in which the level of available supply of goods and services is insufficient to meet the needs and desires of consumers, as a percentage of potential demand is met, which leads to price disturbances that lose economic stability its objective conditions and cause the emergence of dangerous monopolies.
He added, “The dark-colored or unofficially defined market dominates more than 60% of the private sector’s activities, a phenomenon that threatens price stability and leads to disturbances in the organization of storage and the quality of supply, in addition to the rapid birth of monopolies, causing great damage to the organization of economic life.” .
He continued, “The House of Representatives approved in 2010 (Law on Competition and Prevention of Monopoly) No. 14, which aims to regulate competition and prevent monopolistic practices harmful to society by investors, producers, marketers, or others in all economic activities.”
He pointed out that “the law did not take its course in implementation due to the dangerous influence of commercial liberalism, the unregulated commercial market, and the loss of many of its conditions by market institutions, especially the broad regulation of commercial companies,”
adding that “the law emphasizes ensuring freedom of competition, preventing monopoly in markets, and creating an incentive to reduce costs.”
And the price and quality improvement in relation to the goods and services offered in the market, which leads to encouragement and development of the private, mixed and public sectors in support of the national economy and the good flow of goods and services, and at the same time there is a complete absence of the application of the text of Article Four of the law related to the establishment of the Council for Competition Affairs and Prevention of Monopoly.
And he indicated that “the Council for Competition and Anti-Monopoly Affairs lies in its importance for essential tasks, foremost of which is preparing the general plan for competition and preventing monopoly, applying legislation related to competition and preventing monopoly with the relevant authorities, and working to spread the culture of competition and preventing monopoly,
protecting and encouraging it, as well as working to investigate information and practices that violate the rules Competition and preventing monopoly in cooperation with the relevant authorities in accordance with the provisions of the legislation, and conducting investigations into the practices that it reveals or based on the complaints and news it receives or those that come at the request of the court and preparing reports on its results.
He stressed that “the council is also responsible for issuing a guide on everything related to issues of monopoly, merger and restricted commercial practices, as well as seeking help from experts or consultants to complete any of the works that fall within its competence, and coordination and cooperation with similar bodies outside Iraq in the field of information and data exchange and what is related to the implementation of competition rules and preventing Monopoly within the limits permitted by international treaties, on the condition of reciprocity, and submitting an annual report to the Council of Ministers on the status of competition and preventing monopoly.
He pointed out that “work must be done to put the law into effect, starting with announcing the formation of the Competition Affairs and Monopoly Prevention Council, in accordance with what was stipulated in Law No. 14 of 2010.” Views 86 06/18/2023 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=34805
Economist: The Regional Government Seeks To Block The Passage Of The Oil And Gas Law
Information/Baghdad.. Oil expert Hamza Al-Jawahiri confirmed today, Sunday, that the Kurdistan Regional Government is seeking to obstruct the passage of the oil and gas bill in the Iraqi parliament.
Follow the “information” channel on Telegram.. news that does not need to be documented..
Al-Jawahiri said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, that “the issue of approving the oil and gas law went through several attempts, the last of which was in 2011, when a proposal for the law was submitted and it was obstructed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.”
He added, “The approval of the oil and gas law is governed by Iraqi political will par excellence, and there is nothing to do with the outside in preventing its passage,” noting that “three failed attempts were made during the previous years to pass.” the law.”
And that “the approval of the oil and gas law is governed by the Iraqi political will par excellence, and there is nothing to do with the outside to prevent its approval, and there are no external pressures that work not to approve the law.”
Al-Jawahiri pointed out, “The Kurdistan region wants to separate the law according to its will, which serves the interest of the region at the expense of other Iraqi provinces.”
He pointed out that “after the decision of the International Court in Paris and the decision of the Federal Court regarding the production, export and marketing of the region’s oil, and followed recently by articles in the budget law for the current year that governed the relationship Between the region and the center, where the government of the region was put in an awkward position, and therefore its approval became easier than it was in previous attempts.” “.
It is noteworthy that the suspended oil and gas law in Parliament since its first session, in 2005, is one of the most prominent points on which a preliminary agreement was reached between the governments of Baghdad and the region, but the law faces many obstacles, despite the fact that it helps to resolve the differences between the governments of Baghdad and the region. LINK