The 2024 Budget Is Safe With Government Controls, 24 JUNE

 The 2024 Budget Is Safe With Government Controls

Iraq  06/24/2024  The Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance called on all ministries, governorates, and entities not affiliated with a ministry, to send their authorized representatives for the purpose of receiving estimates of current expenditures, revenues, and investment projects for the current year, approved by the House of Representatives, and this is the first time that general budget tables have been approved and not a law.

 Budget, where the government set a general budget for three years (2023, 2024, 2025).

There has been much talk among specialists about the budget deficit, which some have estimated at 25 percent, while the government seems confident in its calculations and is constantly calling for reassurance.

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, on specific mechanisms to fill the supposed deficit.

Saleh told Al-Sabah: “There are various objective factors that public finances depend on in the event of a real emergency deficit during the remaining six months of spending of the current fiscal year, which is known as limited resort to short-term loans or bridge loans in the terminology.”

He explained, “The general budget law in force allows borrowing with treasury bonds or transfers from the internal banking market, in addition to controlling operational spending priorities, which is what is called financial discipline, which tends towards preferring some necessary operational expenses over others according to priorities,” indicating that “this comes To provide sufficient financing for the committed urban projects without faltering or stopping.”

Saleh noted that “the policy of financial discipline adopted by the fiscal policy has become more restrictive in collecting government revenues and in accordance with strict oversight characterized by speed and precision,” and stated that “it is no secret that there are funds that were not spent from the previous fiscal year’s budget and were recycled, which provides a facilitating, compensatory climate.” In the flow of cash revenues, especially in meeting part of the basic and development spending needs in the current year’s budget.”

He pointed out, "Despite the above, oil markets are still in booming demand and their prices are higher at a rate of change of (positive 15 percent) than what is planned for the price of a barrel of crude oil in Federal Budget Law No. 13 of 2023 (the tripartite budget), which is $70 per barrel." “One,” he stressed, “this in itself is a positive element in covering necessary spending, and leads to a continuous reduction in the hypothetical or planned deficit gap.”

In this context, economic affairs researcher, Nabil Jabbar Al-Tamimi, stated that the ceiling on government spending and revenues is restricted, expecting that public spending will not exceed the available amounts.

Al-Tamimi told “Al-Sabah”: “The general budget is numbers, tables, and hypothetical estimates for revenues and spending, and in general, the government has set a high ceiling for revenues and spending, and indicated that a large deficit could occur in the issue of revenues to cover spending.” He added, “The government has put in place a set of plans.” To cover the budget deficit, including borrowing and selling bonds.

He continued, "The government will not spend more than the expected revenues and will not be able to implement the budget in full technically and financially, and spending at the end of the year will not exceed 150 trillion dinars." He stressed that "this number is the amount of revenue achieved with a small deficit," indicating that "the government will not You can implement the budget in full and will remain hostage to the funds collected, which will be spent according to the available ceiling.”

Edited by: Muhammad Al-Ansari    https://alsabaah.iq/98452-.html