The Parliamentary Finance Committee said on Thursday that it or the House of Representatives has no intention of returning the budget schedules for 2024 to the federal government.
Committee member Hussein Moanis explained to Shafaq News Agency, “Last Monday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee hosted the Ministers of Finance and Planning to discuss many topics related to the budget schedules, including answering the questions of the committee members regarding increasing the financial allocation to the ministries and reducing the funds allocated to the governorates.”
He added, “The two ministers answered the questions that were directed to them during their hosting in the committee,” noting that “the increase in financial allocation to the ministries came due to the presence of retained funds for the ministries from last year.”
Mu’nis stressed that “the project funds allocated to the governorates can be disposed of this year.” He pointed out that “the Parliamentary Finance Committee will work to make financial transfers from the ministries to the governorates, in addition to reducing the percentage of the deficit present in the budget tables.”
A member of the Finance Committee confirmed that “there is no intention to return the budget schedules to the government, and that the House of Representatives will discuss the budget law schedules and then they will be approved in a special session.”
The day before yesterday, Tuesday, the coordination framework stressed, during a meeting attended by Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, the necessity of approving the budget schedules to achieve the interests of citizens and support the economic situation.
The 2024 budget, according to what Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani announced yesterday, Sunday, amounts to 211 trillion dinars, and employee salaries for the year 2024 amount to 62 trillion dinars, while the 2023 budget amounted to 199 trillion dinars and employee salaries amounted to 59 trillion dinars.
According to Al-Sudani, the revenues of the 2024 budget are estimated at “144 trillion and 336 billion dinars, while expenditures amount to 210 trillion and 936 billion dinars, while the deficit is 63 trillion and 599 billion dinars.”
