Parliament resumes voting following dispute over the budget bill
Shafaq News / On Sunday evening, the Iraqi Parliament resumed the voting process for the three-year budget law after a halt in the deliberations due to several contentious articles.
The Parliament continued voting on approximately twenty articles, while more than ten articles, including six contentious ones, remain pending, in addition to extra provisions.
Articles 15, 16, 17, 42, 43, and 50 of the overall law have been postponed for now, while voting took place on articles 43 to 63. The remaining articles will be addressed at a later stage.
Earlier today, a parliamentary source revealed a new dispute surrounding the approval of the three-year budget law. The source informed Shafaq News Agency that several parliamentary blocs are pushing to obstruct the approval of the budget law for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025, and instead propose a budget for a single year only.
The disagreement has impeded the completion of voting on the remaining articles, particularly focusing on the six contentious articles. The ongoing dialogue within the parliament is currently centered on resolving the dispute and proceeding with the budget approval process.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives passed approximately twenty articles of the federal budget law for the aforementioned three years before taking a break.
On March 13th of the previous year, the Iraqi Cabinet approved the draft budget law for the current year, along with the years 2024 and 2025, and referred it to the Council of Representatives for ratification.
The budget for the current year amounts to 197 trillion and 828 billion Iraqi dinars (approximately $152.2 billion), with a total deficit of 63 trillion dinars (approximately $48.3 billion). However, the budgets for the years 2023 and 2024 have not been published yet.
