Iraqi parliament speaker slams budget bill proposed by Abadi

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Iraqi government’s proposed budget bill does not follow constitutional and legal procedures, said Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, adding that the administration of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has not taken into consideration a call by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase the KRG's share of the budget.

He noted that objections to the budget have been raised by the Kurdistan Region, Sunni provinces affected by the war against ISIS, and oil-producing provinces, but none of their demands were met by the government in its revised bill, sent to parliament last week.

Oil-producing provinces such as Basra in the south and Kirkuk in the north, demanded the government allocate to their local government 20 percent of the oil revenues produced in their provinces, Jabouri explained in a press conference in Baghdad on Monday.

The Kurdistan Region requested Baghdad give it 17 percent of the Iraqi budget, as has been the case in every budget since the US-led invasion of Iraq until Baghdad cut the KRG’s share entirely in 2014. Kurdish MPs in Baghdad also called for the payment of civil servant salaries, monies owed to farmers, and a defense budget for the Peshmerga, among other things.

Jabouri, himself a Sunni politician, said the provinces affected by the war against ISIS, including Nineveh, had many concerns. They demanded the Iraqi government resume salaries to public employees who have security clearance and asked for loans and funds for people returning to their war-damaged home cities.

"The Council of Representatives received a revised budget bill last week. The budget does not guarantee any of the reservations, calls for revisions, or the demands presented by the representatives whether from the damaged provinces, the Kurdistan Region, or the oil-producing provinces," Jabouri said.

He confirmed that the proposed share of the KRG budget has been set at 12.67 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the allocated budget cannot meet the Kurdish needs for the year of 2018.

"[W]e've communicated to the federal government that the 6.6 trillion [Iraqi dinars] (about $5.56 billion) that are currently in the 2018 draft budget do not suffice in our view to cover the needs of the Kurdistan Regional Government. To that, in our opinion, these transfers should be increased to about 10 trillion Iraqi dinars ($8.43 billion)," IMF Deputy Division Chief Christian Josz told Rudaw in December.

Jabouri said that the Iraqi government has made some changes to the budget bill suggested by the IMF, but that none of the changes include the Kurdistan Region.

"The revisions include some of the propositions presented by the International Monetary Fund except for the sections related to the Kurdistan Region which were not taken into consideration," the parliament speaker said.

Jabouri said that the Iraqi parliament is prepared to meet some of the guidelines set by the IMF, but warned that "it is us who will make the final decision."

He said the parliament is ready to put the budget on the agenda for discussion, but "technical discussions" should take place between the parliament and Abadi on the outstanding issues. Kurdish MPs should be included, he added.

He accused the government of making a number of "constitutional and legal" violations when it prepared the draft, including missing an October deadline to table the budget in the parliament and failing to send the parliament an audit of budget expenses for the years 2012-2017. The Iraqi Finance Ministry has also failed to specify the sovereign fund, he said.

Sovereign funds cover expenses such as the defense budget, the Iraqi Council of Ministers and the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi president, and border guards.

Jabouri said the government did not include the KRG's share of the sovereign funds, either.

The KRG has said on more than one occasion that its share, even when it was 17 percent, was slashed when the sovereign funds was deducted.

The current budget bill allocates 82 trillion Iraqi dinars ($69.2 billion) for 2018, Jabouri said, adding the oil prices are estimated at $46 per barrel, with exports to reach an average of 3.888 million barrels daily.

Kurdish MPs in Baghdad boycotted Sunday's parliament session protesting the last minute inclusion of the second reading of the contentious budget bill.