Shafaq News / The Iraqi parliament intends to host Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, and other directors to discuss the fiscal deficit and the reform paper. 

 A statement by the Media office of the Iraqi Council of Representatives said in a statement received by Shafaq News agency that Hassan Al-Kaabi, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, "directed to host the Minister of Finance, Director-General of the Customs Authority, Director-General of the Tax Authority and Director-General of the Retirement Authority to discuss the white paper and the financial deficit".

 The Iraqi government presented a bill to Parliament requesting authorization to borrow an amount of 41 trillion dinars to cover the fiscal deficit for the remaining months of this year.

 However, the director of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmad Al-Saffar, informed Shafaq News Agency on Wednesday that his committee had agreed on granting the government the authority to borrow 15 trillion dinars only.

 Earlier today, Wednesday, Ahmed Mulla Talal, spokesman for Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, issued an explanation of the statements he made earlier on the borrowing law and securing the salaries of employees.

 "The declined state revenues in the past several months are not sufficient to pay the salaries and other obligations", Mulla Talal said on his Twitter account, "On this basis, the government requested from Parliament an additional borrowing authority to fill the financial gap before the submission of 2021 budget".

 "The 2021 budget will be a reform budget par excellence and (it will) based on the requirements of the white paper. The measures will be directly aiming at improving state revenues and controlling expenditures", he added.