Parliament speaker insists on timely submission of federal budget in future

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Parliament speaker insists on timely submission of federal budget in future

Posted: February 19, 2011 by THE CURRENCY NEWSHOUND - Just Hopin in Iraqi Dinar/Politics

Tags: Baghdad, Economy of Iraq, Invasion of Kuwait, Iraq, Iraqi people, kuwait, middle east, prime minister

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Baghdad, Feb. 19 (AKnews) Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said on Saturday that parliament will no longer accept the late submission of the final accounts of the federal budget by the government and its ministries.

Osama al-Nujaifi told AKnews that the final accounts of the Federal budget are always late as they were this year and although there are always reasons behind the delay, the handling of the budget requires stricter time management in the future.

“The accounts should be submitted early because the ratification of the budget requires integrated financial audit accounts with reports from the fiscal supervising committee to determine the year’s spending,” he said.

“We need to develop future strategies for the growing economy to serve national interests,” he continued, “…the Iraqi economy should not be weak”.

Nujaifi said that the form of the current budget which is 70% operational and 30% investment need to change in the coming years to reflect parliament’s conviction that a switch in policy to a more stable mode is necessary to serve the interests of the Iraqi people.

“There is a consensus in parliament on the need to reduce the salaries of state executives,” he said, announcing a move to “reduce the salaries significantly to close the disproportionate gap between the salaries of the higher grades and the general public.”

On the question of compensation payments to Kuwait subtracted from each year’s federal budget, Nujaifi said that the government will make a serious effort to renegotiate the agreement with the neighboring state.

“The Prime Minister visited Kuwait two days ago and discussed a lot of things to improve bilateral relations including border issues and the compensation debt,” he said, indicating that “the prime minister and parliament will visit Kuwait next month to sign a new agreement.”

Currently 5% of Iraq’s oil export profits are paid to Kuwait as part of a compensation package drafted by the UN in 1992 following the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under the former regime.

Nujaifi explained that Iraq has paid $31bn in compensation to Kuwait so far leaving an outstanding debt of $22bn.

This years 5% oil export payment amounts to $5.23bn which, according to Nujaifi, “puts pressure on Iraq’s federal budget each year”.

The parliament speaker went on to suggest that a new agreement could be reached in the light of the “positive atmosphere” in Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations.

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/219356/