The 2024 Budget Has Not Yet Been Implemented Because The Ministry Of Finance Has Not Completed The Schedules, 21 FEB

 The 2024 Budget Has Not Yet Been Implemented Because The Ministry Of Finance Has Not Completed The Schedules

February 21, 2024  Baghdad/Al-Masala Al-Hadath: In light of the difficult economic conditions facing Iraq, the importance of transparency and the right to access information emerges as essential tools in combating corruption and gaining citizens’ trust in the state.

Obtaining accurate information about the budget preparation process and spending details is a basic condition for achieving this goal.

However, government work in Iraq suffers from a lack of transparency and clarity in the budget preparation process. Although a long period of time has passed since the beginning of 2024, the year’s budget has not yet been implemented, due to the Ministry of Finance not completing the necessary schedules and the lack of clarity on the reasons for restricting disbursement to salaries and not other items, despite the abundance of available financial funds.

These conditions are considered an indicator of a lack of transparency in the budget preparation process, which increases ambiguity and creates mistrust between citizens and government authorities.

The budget preparation process must be open and transparent, with relevant documents and information provided to citizens and interested parties, in order to ensure everyone understands the priorities and financial details.

Analyzes indicate that the Iraqi government must enhance transparency, provide full access to information about the budget preparation process, clarify the reasons and justifications behind spending decisions, and determine financial priorities.

Complete transparency contributes to building confidence between the government and citizens, and enhances legitimacy and political and economic stability in Iraq.

Iraqi politician Raed Fahmi said that transparency and the right to access information are conditions for preventing corruption and gaining citizen confidence in the state. These two conditions are not met in the process of preparing the budget and identifying its items and spending.

He added: The 2024 budget has not been implemented yet because the Ministry of Finance has not completed the schedules, and ambiguity surrounds the reasons for limiting disbursement to salaries and nothing else, despite the financial abundance.   https://almasalah.com/archives/83346