Iraq approves its largest ever budget Saturday

[carlablum]

Iraq approves its largest ever budget Saturday

Saturday, 03 March 2012, 08:24 GMT

Iraq approves its largest ever budget

A session of the Iraqi Parliament./PRESS PHOTO

The Kurdish Globe

Kurds are overall satisfied with the outcome After numerous sessions, delays, and amendments, the Iraqi Parliament finally voted on the largest ever budget of the country on 23 February 2012. Voted for by the majority of votes, the total budget is about 116 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $100 billion). Kurdistan Region's share in the budget was set at 12.6 trillion ID, approximately 11.25% of the country's total budget.

Calculation of the budget is based on fixing the price of oil at $80 per barrel, and under the assumption that Iraq will export 2.6 million barrels of oil per day.

Voting for the budget means allocating 40 trillion ID for sovereign issues, approximately four times the budget allocated to Kurdistan Region. This has hurt the Region's share by reducing it by around 7 trillion ID. According to a political agreement between Baghdad and Erbil, the Region's share in the Iraqi budget should be 17%, (approximately 19.89 trillion ID this year), but calculating this rate after deducting the 40 trillion ID, it is now only 10.7%.

Although Iraq's budget has significantly increased this year and bypassed previous years' amounts, Kurdistan Region's budget share has not increased accordingly.

Kurdish authorities argue the central government has used the excess budget to increase the sovereign budget, and the remainder of the budget that is used to calculate the Region's share has only gone up slightly.

Dr. Ahmed Chawsheen, a Finance Committee Member of Parliament of the Kurdistan Alliance says since 2004, Kurdistan's share in Iraq's budget has been between 10 and 12%. "Most of the issues for which budget is allocated under the sovereign budget could be managed within the budget of the Ministries and other governmental institutions," MP Chawsheen told The Kurdish Globe. He added that during a session of his committee with the federal Minister of Finance, he questioned the Minister about the rationale behind the inclusion of so many projects under the sovereign budget, but with "no concrete answer." The Minister replied that this has been the same way before and "we agreed to do it the way we have always done it."

The sovereign budget is divided between the presidential budget (9 trillion ID) and the federal budget (31 trillion ID), out of which 7 trillion is allocated for defense, while nothing has been allocated for the Peshmarga Forces, which are part of the Iraqi Defense System by law.

Although not all the demands of the Kurds were considered in the budget, Kurdish representatives are generally satisfied with it. Azad Sreshmayee, a Kurdish MP, says Parliament added nine articles to the law immediately before voting, which he describes as being merely to "persuade different political groups" to vote for the draft.

"These articles are not related to the budget law," stated MP Sreshmayee in an interview with The Globe. "This will hurt the objectives of the budget law and would put more load and pressure on the government."

He believes Parliament does not have the authority to introduce any articles to the draft, and is only entitled to remove or modify existing articles. But this addition was a political decision.

Another criticism Sreshmayee had on the budget was the political accord on which the budget is grounded, which means that it would target political aims rather than service and development aims.

One of the nine articles added to the draft was proposed by the Sadr MPs to distribute 25% of the discretionary budget over the country's population, which according to MP Najiba Najib, is merely aimed at serving the popularity of the Sadr to be used for future political purposes.

Kurds have succeeded in seizing the authority of the Ministry of Finance to hold the Region's budget in case oil exports are stopped, and now the Iraqi government will monitor the Region's exports directly. They also persuaded Baghdad to pay the fees for the oil companies producing oil in Kurdistan.

However, the Peshmarga budget issue, which was one of the key points of disagreement between Erbil and Baghdad, was kept on hold and is still to be addressed and settled between the central and regional governments at a later stage. This means the same scenario of previous years will repeat itself this year.

Although the majority of the demands of the Kurdish members were accepted, some Kurdish MPs still doubt whether all these promises will be implemented or if they will have to fight for them again.

"These things are approved, but will they be implemented?" asks Saeed Rasul, a Kurdish MP. Sreshmayee is also doubtful about the future and says there should be a law to govern such political agreements.

http://www.kurdishgl....9BA8EAD6E494FD

[Rubberband King]

Thanks Carla

This is great news. Keep it coming Iraq.

Leggo RV!

[TPSprayduster]

Nice find Carla

[DropItLikeItsHot]

Agree GREAT NEWS, moving foward in a positive manner!

BIG +1 Carla

DropItLikeItsHot GO RV

[Stryker365]

Looks like the Budget has been completed; now we should see the RV…. …..After numerous sessions, delays, and amendments, the Iraqi Parliament finally voted on the largest ever budget of the country on 23 February 2012.

allocated for the Peshmarga Forces,which are part of the Iraqi Defense System by law. ……..nice, this is another one of the Erbil agreements approved in the budget and one of the biggest problems the Kurds had. They said they have had to pay for the Peshmarga Forces themselves.

Although notall the demands of the Kurds were considered in the budget, Kurdish representatives are generally satisfied with it….….this is great news, the Kurds have said that if the Erbil issues get taken care of they will help pass the HCL and budget, well we know the budget is passed according to this anyway! HCL is too IMO just not formally announced yet. If the agreed on the budget the Kurds have agreed on the HCL.

You know I just figured this out, the beginning of the article seems to be fact and then he goes into this guy/gal Saeed Rasul, a Kurdish MP opinion,see here;……

… However, the Peshmarga budget issue, which was one of the key points of disagreement between Erbil and Baghdad, was kept on hold and is still to be addressed and settled between the central and regional governments at a later stage. This means the same scenario of previous years will repeat itself this year.

Although the majority of the demands of the Kurdish members were accepted, some Kurdish MPs still doubt whether all these promises will be implemented or if they will have to fight for them again.

"These things are approved, but will they be implemented?" asks Saeed Rasul, aKurdish MP. Sreshmayee is also doubtful about the future and says there should be a law to govern such political agreements.

Anyway it’s hard to make everyone happy but it looks like the overall Kurd’s are happy and that is what matters to move forward, IMO….. Kurds are overall satisfied with the outcome

Thanks for the article carla!!!!

Edited March 3, 2012 by Stryker365

[abutchbaker]

Good news they are headed in the right direction..........

[Da Teets]

Great find to wake up to! Things just keep moving along in the right direction! Thanks Carla! Happy Saturday everyone!

[Stryker365]

GM yota, oleman and all....

[precious1]

Thank you Carla!

Since I am a recent DV investor, I am not sure of the previous yearly budgets and agreements. Could someone help me understand this paragraph?

[b]However, the Peshmarga budget issue, which was one of the key points of disagreement between Erbil and Baghdad, was kept on hold and is still to be addressed and settled between the central and regional governments at a later stage. This means the same scenario of previous years will repeat itself this year. [/b]

[oleman]

Morning stryker and everyone. Wow this does sound good. Presious has a very good question, which I don't know the answer to. Would love some ones opinion on this.

[Ms. BJ]

Great, way to go Iraq.

[Abarvets]

GM all. Stryker I have a slightly different spin on the article here.

while nothing has been allocated for the Peshmarga Forces I read this as they lost this part of the negotiations but picked this up instead

to hold the Region's budget in case oil exports are stopped, and now the Iraqi government will monitor the Region's exports directly. They also persuaded Baghdad to pay the fees for the oil companies producing oil in Kurdistan.

Now they did this part succeeded in seizing the authority of the Ministry of Finance

They also persuaded Baghdad.

This explains part of the reason why we have not seen the budget come out of the presidents council and published in the gazette jmho.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Abarvets

[Stryker365]

Thank you Carla!

Since I am a recent DV investor, I am not sure of the previous yearly budgets and agreements. Could someone help me understand this paragraph?

[b]However, the Peshmarga budget issue, which was one of the key points of disagreement between Erbil and Baghdad, was kept on hold and is still to be addressed and settled between the central and regional governments at a later stage. This means the same scenario of previous years will repeat itself this year. [/b]

Sorry,I stepped away for a minute. Precious all that means is that the Kurds have had to fight to get their funds from previous budgets, I have read where the Kurds have not gotten paid for their Peshmarga Forces in the past but other articles have said they did but ayear later. Other funds have been delayed in the past also. Hope this helps

Edited March 3, 2012 by Stryker365

[tommy17]

Parliament voted on and approved the budget dated march 3. They said in articles, that parliment wouldn't be back till the 6th of march. This shows us that they are trying to keep us investors off this and you can't believe everything in the news. good news

[jas428]

Good news, but until it's in the Gazette it's still not official. IMO the new rate is not in the budget....but the spending and projects that will come from the budget being implemented will cause inflation and the need to raise the rate. The budget could be implemented well before CH. 7, HCL, Ministers< etc. are officially done but it will progress this proces even further. So don't lose hope when/if the budget does not have any rate changes....because it is still leading us down the right road!

[Stryker365]

GM all. Stryker I have a slightly different spin on the article here.

while nothing has been allocated for the Peshmarga Forces I read this as they lost this part of the negotiations but picked this up instead

to hold the Region's budget in case oil exports are stopped, and now the Iraqi government will monitor the Region's exports directly. They also persuaded Baghdad to pay the fees for the oil companies producing oil in Kurdistan.

Now they did this part succeeded in seizing the authority of the Ministry of Finance

They also persuaded Baghdad.

This explains part of the reason why we have not seen the budget come out of the presidents council and published in the gazette jmho.

GM Abarvets, you're right I missed it.....while nothing...... has been allocated for the Peshmarga Forces...

Thanks, that is why there is no I in team.....yeah i read where the Kurds budget needs to be 17% to cover the Forces but this says they are OK with the 12 + %. Thanks for catching that, need more coffee!!!

[Circlewood]

Thank you Carla!

Since I am a recent DV investor, I am not sure of the previous yearly budgets and agreements. Could someone help me understand this paragraph?

[b]However, the Peshmarga budget issue, which was one of the key points of disagreement between Erbil and Baghdad, was kept on hold and is still to be addressed and settled between the central and regional governments at a later stage. This means the same scenario of previous years will repeat itself this year. [/b]

What the article is referring to is the fact that previous budgets have been delayed sometimes for nearly a year because of political fighting. One of the biggest concerns for the Iraqi govt. has been the Kurdish pershmarga military who answered only to the Kurdish govt. in the past. It is feared that the loyalty of the pershmarga's still is with the Kurds exclusively, since in the past the Kurdish portion of Iraq wanted to be a sovereign nation. As a result of this desire, the new Iraqi govt. has been rationing the moneys from the budgets that go to the Kurdish regions.

[leanonme]

My first news read of the morning and a great one too!! Nice find

[Abarvets]

GM Abarvets, you're right I missed it.....while nothing...... has been allocated for the Peshmarga Forces...

Thanks, that is why there is no I in team.....yeah i read where the Kurds budget needs to be 17% to cover the Forces but this says they are OK with the 12 + %. Thanks for catching that, need more coffee!!!

Love the smell of coffee in the morning........

I understand why Baghdad won't give them money. The military becomes a great thing to use as a bargaining chip for other stuff they really want but would not get otherwise.

[RodandStaff]

Now it sounds like we are getting somewhere... well boyz.... time to git-r-dun!!!

Good find Carla! And it looks like the fine folks here at DV have your back as well!

Come On RV Baby!!!

[tim5400]

Is this OFFICIAL...or semi official waitnig for the stamp of approval?????,,, we may never know....

[KiaKaha]

Thanks for the article, Carla, and thanks Stryker & Abarvets for your breakdowns.

KK

[leesburg]

i thought they were going to have a civil war?

lol

i have read so much on the subject of iraq .. rv by end of june is my window ...lol..im calling it ...i said it first ...mark this quote and give me praise when im right ..

'

if im not right ill give you my next window ..the first of july ... if i dont forget .... but for now im going to pretend like im running something and incharge of this rv

[Carrello]

Good news, but until it's in the Gazette it's still not official. IMO the new rate is not in the budget....but the spending and projects that will come from the budget being implemented will cause inflation and the need to raise the rate. The budget could be implemented well before CH. 7, HCL, Ministers< etc. are officially done but it will progress this proces even further. So don't lose hope when/if the budget does not have any rate changes....because it is still leading us down the right road!

Uncirculd, who is an avid observer, just made a comment on another thread about Gazette publication not being required any longer for a law to be final, if I understood her correctly.

Uncirculd, are you out there? Am I correct, or can you shed some light on your comment, please.

Parliament voted on and approved the budget dated march 3. They said in articles, that parliment wouldn't be back till the 6th of march. This shows us that they are trying to keep us investors off this and you can't believe everything in the news. good news

My mantra: watch what they do, not what they say.

[Alexyn1006]

Uncirculd, who is an avid observer, just made a comment on another thread about Gazette publication not being required any longer for a law to be final, if I understood her correctly.

Uncirculd, are you out there? Am I correct, or can you shed some light on your comment, please.

My mantra: watch what they do, not what they say.

asdf talked about this on his show last night (Phoenix Rising Radio..blogtalk radio) , if you care to listen? http://www.blogtalkradio.com/asdf/2012/03/03/phoenix-rising-radio