A positive sign, “conditional” from Parliament’s finances, to pass the request to borrow and pay salaries

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, MP Faisal Al-Issawi, set one condition, on Tuesday (October 3, 2020), in order to pass the law on financing the fiscal deficit (borrowing) by the House of Representatives, while noting that all state ministries are accustomed to spending without being accounted for or punished.

"Parliament is pressuring the government to take real measures that secure the country's future, and we do not want to burden the state with debts," Al-Issawi said in a televised statement followed by (Baghdad Today).

He added, "Borrowing will push the country to collapse. We have fundamental observations on the law sent by the Al-Kazemi government, including the amount of exaggerated amount, and we cannot pass the borrowing law in this way without reform steps for the economy," indicating that "the white paper has nothing to do with the current crisis." And they must be reform steps that include all state ministries that spend comfortably without accountability or punishment and without taking into account the country's financial situation. "

Al-Issawi pointed out that "any law submitted by the government on resolving the economic crisis will be passed by parliament, and the government must have real steps to solve the economic crisis, but the government is reluctant to take scientific steps to alleviate the crisis and does not deal in a serious way."

Earlier, a member of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives, Jamal Cougar, confirmed, Tuesday, (November 03, 2020), that the Parliamentary Finance Committee is moving towards pressure on the government to send the budget for next year 2021, indicating that the white reform paper presented by the government cannot be Applying it without the draft budget.

Cougar said in a press statement followed by (Baghdad Today), that "the government does not want to send the budget because most of its items will contain a deficit," indicating that "there will be pressure on the government to send the budget, because without it, even the reform paper will not be applied, which from It is supposed to be included in the budget next year. "

The member of Parliament noted that "it has not happened in the history of Iraqi governments that two consecutive years have passed without a budget."

Regarding salaries, Cougar explained that "the Minister of Finance has the power to resort to temporary borrowing until the permanent borrowing law is passed," expressing his surprise that "the minister did not use these powers to cover the deficit in financing salaries."

And that "the government currently has 4.5 trillion dinars, that is, it needs 1.5 trillion dinars in order to be able to distribute the salaries of employees and retirees and social protection."

And the Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi, confirmed on Sunday, November 01, 2020, that the salaries of employees for the month of October may be paid after two weeks if the law on financing the fiscal deficit has not passed in the House of Representatives.

Allawi said in a statement to the official news agency (Baghdad today) that "the financial crisis that the country is going through is not born today, and if the parliament votes on the deficit financing law, salaries will be released directly."

He added that "reducing Iraq's share of oil exports has an impact on revenues," noting that "options to maximize revenues quickly and in the short term in order to bridge the deficit are almost impossible."

Allawi added that "the current government faced the crisis without financial liquidity," noting that "the salaries of employees for the month of October may be paid after two weeks if the deficit financing law has not passed."

Speaking about internal borrowing to secure expenditures, the Minister of Finance explained that "the mechanism for repaying internal borrowing is through the revenues generated from oil and the benefits consequent by default," noting that "Iraq's external debts range from 60 to 70 billion dollars, while the internal debt is estimated at 60 trillion dinars. "

And that "there is a strong trend to activate the collection of electricity by installing electronic meters."

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