Today, Sunday, October 1, 2023, the Iraqi Parliament’s Parliamentary Finance Committee met with governors to review the implementation of projects funded by the federal general budget.
The House of Representatives’ Media Department announced in a statement that the Parliamentary Finance Committee reviewed project execution under the federal general budget with the governors.
Following a series of sessions held by the Council that began on Thursday, June 8, 2023, and ended in the early hours of Monday, June 12, 2023, the Iraqi Parliament voted on the country’s general financial budget for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The recent parliamentary sessions saw unprecedented squabbles between political blocs, particularly after the Kurdistan Democratic Party refused to vote on some budget items, before the two parties reached a compromise agreement that ensured the continuation of the political agreement that led to the formation of the state administration coalition and the formation of the government of the current Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani.
The sessions also saw heated debates between governorate representatives over financial allocations, development funds, and the creation of job grades in the public sector, with Parliament refusing to approve the imposition of a tax on fuel and communications prices.
The current budget is the largest in the country’s history, amounting to approximately 153 billion dollars per year, and the Kurdistan region will receive a percentage estimated at 12.6%, while recording a large financial deficit estimated at about 48 billion annually, which is the highest and more than double the deficit recorded in the previous budget for the year.
The budget also authorized the country’s export of 3.5 million barrels of oil per day, including around 400,000 barrels from Kurdistan’s resources, despite tensions between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and other blocs over how the region will sell its oil.
