Iraqi President approves 2024 budget, 1 JULY

Iraqi President approves 2024 budget

The Iraqi President, Abdel Latif Rashid, supported on Thursday a few draft bills, including the 2024 spending plan.

According to a statement released by the Iraqi Presidency, Rashid passed legislation governing prostitution, homosexuality, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), and agricultural land renting in addition to the budget for 2024.

The Iraqi parliament approved the country’s proposed budget at the beginning of June, with the goal of increasing expenditures until the end of 2024.

In a statement, the Iraqi parliament said that 199 of the 329 members of the parliament attended a session that was presided over by the acting speaker, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, and approved the budget for 2024.

The Iraqi cabinet completed a draft of the budget bill last month before submitting it to the Iraqi parliament for approval.

Iraqi administrators passed the spending plan that raised the country’s use to 211 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $161 billion).

In June 2023, Iraq approved a record-breaking $152 billion budget for three years, with 12.6% going to the Kurdistan region.

The budget deficit for Iraq in 2024 is approximately 63 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $48 billion), or one-third of the total budget.

In December, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said that the government is talking to the parliamentary financial committee about changing relevant laws because businesses in Iraqi Kurdistan are waiting for payments to cover production costs.

In March, Mouin Al-Kadhimi, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, stated that an increase in the overall amount of the budget led to an increase in the deficit.