3-2-2012Iraqi Budget Approved Amidst Delay and Controversy
After a two-month delay and 10 hours of debate, the Iraqi Parliament finally approved the country’s 2012 budget last week.
The parliament also approved a check for US$200 for each Iraqi citizen if there is a surplus from the country’s oil sales.
Based on exporting 2.6 million barrels of oil every day at $80 a barrel, Iraq’s budget for this year is 117 trillion dinars (US$93 billion). This includes 170,000 barrels of oil exported from the Kurdistan Region.
The new budget has also allocated 650 billion Iraqi dinars to compensate oil companies that work in Kurdistan for their expenses from searching for and drilling oil.
Najiba Najib, a member of the financial committee in the Iraqi Parliament, told Rudaw, “After the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government reached an agreement in 2011, the oil companies’ expenses will be on the central government and that has been approved during the budget discussion in parliament.”
The passing of the budget came with a little controversy. This year’s annual budget was 13 billion Iraqi dinars short, but that did not stop the parliament from allocating US$50 million to buy 350 bulletproof cars for parliament members.
A number of MPs protested the decision to purchase the armored vehicles by parliament.
“Buying these cars is for security reasons,” Najib said. “It is our duty to visit and oversee government ministries and offices. We will not be able to fulfill our duties without these cars.”
Najib dismissed claims that the vehicles will remain property of the MPs in the future, saying, “The cars are parliament’s property. They will stay with the parliament members until their term finishes.”
Economists argue that Iraq has set aside US$70 billion for spending, compared to half that amount for investment.
In the passing of the new budget, the parliament raised pensions and Iraqi the government plans to provide 100,000 new jobs.
According to Najib, this will allow the Kurdistan Region to employ 17,000 people.
Najib also maintained that Baghdad is planning to put “25 percent from the surplus oil income into a monetary fund for the future plans of the finance and planning ministries.”
Kurdistan Region’s share of the Iraqi budget is 12.7 trillion Iraqi dinars, an increase of 1 trillion from last year.
Rashid Tahir, KRG’s deputy finance minister, told Rudaw, “Following Iraq’s budget approval, we will finish our part and then send the budget to the KRG Council of Ministers and from there to parliament for voting.”
Tahir didn’t give a timeline for sending the budget to parliament, but Diler Tariq, a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry, believes that might be done within days.
According to Tariq, his ministry was not able to send the budget to the KRG Council of Ministers in time due to the changes in Iraq’s new budget.
“The Iraq budget was changed more than five times so we had to review all the ministries’ budgets many times,” he said.
Bilal Sileman, an MP from the Islamic League in Kurdistan Parliament, was surprised that the budget is still with the Finance Ministry.
“Ten days ago, the finance minister told me the budget was with the Council of Ministers,” Sileman said. “I don’t know how the budget is still stuck at the Finance Ministry.”
Sileman believes that the forming of the new Kurdish government is one of the reasons for the delay, but the government blames Baghdad’s disorganization in their budget approval.
Muhammad Qaradaxi, the chief of staff of the Council of Ministers, told Rudaw, “The budget shouldn’t be delayed.”
Last year, Kurdistan Region’s budget was approved on May 3rd. This year it may be approved by the end of April or beginning of May.
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