The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, confirmed that the House of Representatives’ approval of the financial budget schedules for the year 2024 does not hinder their implementation.
Saleh told {Al-Furat News} agency, “The federal tripartite general budget issued pursuant to Law No. 13 of 2023 differs from the annual budgets that are subject to Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019, amended when the approval of its legislation was delayed, as the Federal Financial Management Law stipulates in one of its paragraphs, that In the event of a delay in approving the general budget law for the new fiscal year, disbursement will be made at a rate of 1/12 of the actual ongoing or current expenditures for the previous year.”
He stated, “The federal tripartite general budget issued pursuant to Law No. 13 of 2023 differs from the annual budgets that are subject to Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019 amended when the approval of its legislation is delayed, as the Federal Financial Management Law stipulates in one of its paragraphs that in the event of a delay in approving the budget law General expenditure for the new fiscal year shall be made at a rate of 1/12 of the actual ongoing or ongoing expenses for the previous year.
Saleh explained, “Approving the general budget law for three years does not provide legal conditioning for the implementation of the effective administration law as long as the general budget has been enacted according to the law for three years.
Therefore, I do not see that the financial tables prepared for approval by the House of Representatives constitute an obstacle to the progress of implementing the plan.” Finance for the year 2024, in its operational and investment parts, and stopping the wheel of public finance, especially its investment part linked to development and economic prosperity, awaiting the approval of the amended budget schedules approved by the executive authority until it is approved by the House of Representatives, as if the matter requires new legislation that delays the purpose of adopting the three-year budget and the investment in time it entails. “.
At the same time, he noted that “the tripartite budget experiment is a financial experiment taking place for the first time in our country. If its goal was and still is to stabilize the adoption and implementation of national development projects without delay related to the annual budget and its annual legislation, then the disruption of its implementation means a return to the annual budget square.” Here, the fundamental difference must be made clear between implementing the budget that is enacted on an annual basis and the budget that is enacted on the basis of an average time frame, such as the tripartite general budget issued by Law 13 of 2023.”
Raghad Dahham