Iraqi Parliament Approves First Amendment to General Budget Law for 2023-2025
2/2/2025
The Iraqi Parliament voted, on Sunday, on the draft law of the first amendment to the Federal General Budget Law of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal years (2023 - 2024 - 2025) No. (13) of 2023.
For his part, independent MP Ahmed Majeed announced in a statement to Shafaq News Agency that members of the House of Representatives from the central and southern governorates boycotted the parliament session held today, considering that voting on the budget is "a violation of the law and the internal regulations of the council due to the lack of a legal quorum."
Majeed explained that "the number of representatives present does not exceed 140 representatives, which means that the quorum is not achieved," stressing that they doubt the legitimacy of the session.
He added: "We will file an appeal with the Federal Court against the House of Representatives for violating the law and proceeding with the vote on amending the budget law."
The Iraqi Council of Representatives held its fourth session of the first legislative term of the fourth legislative year a short while ago, headed by the First Deputy Speaker of the Council, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi , with the attendance of 176 representatives, and the boycott of about 50 representatives.
A parliamentary source told Shafaq News Agency, "The representatives of the Central and Southern Front boycotted the session in protest against the amendment of the budget law. The number of representatives of the Front is about 50 representatives, most of whom are independents."
The representative of the Central and Southern Front, Raed Al-Maliki, said during a press conference held in the parliament building with the participation of the representatives and attended by a Shafaq News Agency correspondent, "We are a group of representatives from the central and southern governorates who boycotted the parliament session on Sunday because of the paragraph amending the budget law."
Al-Maliki added, "We requested that there be a joint administration with the regional government, and that companies be obligated to review contracts, and that other articles be reviewed, including Article 14 of the budget law, in addition to other articles and the deficit in the budget law."
He stressed, "Our demands relate to implementing the rights of the central and southern governorates and financing the government contracting expenses of companies contracting with local governments."
Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who is currently visiting the Iraniancapital Tehran, announced before his departure that Parliament will approve today, Sunday, amending the general budget in accordance with the text sent by the Council of Ministers.
Earlier today, the Coordination Framework, which brings together Shiite political forces, revealed the existence of a political agreement to pass the amendment to the budget law during the session of the Iraqi parliament scheduled to be held today.
The representative of the framework, Mohammed Radhi, told Shafaq News Agency, "There is a political agreement to pass the amendment to the budget law during today's session, as the text of the amendment was mentioned by the Iraqi government. There is a political and parliamentary will and desire to support the government's steps to resolve the differences with the region."
Radi added, "The agreement to pass the amendment to the budget law came inorder to push the government to expedite sending the 2025 budget schedules, as no one wants to disrupt this budget, to prevent obstructing the construction and reconstruction process, and launching many strategic and important projects during this year."
The Finance Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives announcedyesterday, Saturday, that the Council of Representatives will vote in today’s session, Sunday, on the government’s proposal to amend Article 12 of the General Budget Law.
The draft amendment to Article 12 of the Budget Law includes two paragraphs, the first of which relates to the costs of producing and transporting the Kurdistan Region’s oil after determining the actual estimated costs through the advisory body.”
As for the second paragraph, it stipulates that if the federal and regional governments do not agree on the costs of production and transportation, the Ministry of Oil shall choose a party to determine those costs, and as a result the cost of extracting oil from the oil fields in the region shall be calculated.
In June 2023, the Iraqi Parliament voted on the draft general budget law for the fiscal years (2023, 2024, 2025). LINK
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