Calls To Accelerate 2025 Budget And Boost Non-Oil Revenues
Posted on 2024-10-24 by sotaliraq A number of MPs called on the government to expedite the submission of the 2025 budget, warning of the delay that could affect the implementation of development projects and economic reform programmes.
They stressed the importance of enhancing non-oil revenues, calling for the adoption of financial and economic policies that contribute to diversifying sources of income and improving resource management.
The representatives stressed the need to develop clear plans for investment in the oil sector, with the aim of increasing productivity and achieving additional revenues to support the budget, in light of the ongoing fluctuations in global oil prices and the economic pressures facing the country.
This comes amid emphasis on the need to enhance non-oil revenues and ensure the achievement of financial targets to avoid any economic imbalances.
The head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, said: “We expect the 2025 budget to reach the House of Representatives early next year,” indicating that “the government has begun meetings to restructure the budget items.”
For his part, the member of the Finance Committee, Mustafa Al-Karawi, stated that “the current year’s budget stipulated the necessity of providing Parliament with the financial schedule before the end of the fiscal year, and any delay in this will cause a delay in the start of implementing the budget and its schedules,” noting that “the non-oil revenues targeted in the budget are estimated at 27 trillion dinars, while what has been achieved so far does not exceed 8 trillion dinars only.”
Al-Karawi added, “The Ministry of Finance indicated the possibility of collecting 3 trillion dinars per month during the coming period, and that the Finance Committee called on the government to enhance non-oil revenues and ensure the achievement of financial targets to avoid any economic imbalances.”
The MP stressed that “the committee is closely following up on how the budget funds are distributed, to ensure that they are used effectively to serve citizens and enhance the national economy,” noting that “it discusses from time to time ways to increase government revenues by developing the tax and customs system.”
The MP noted that “there is a government plan that depends on automating and modernizing the work systems in these institutions, and it is expected that its implementation will be completed by the end of this year, which will contribute to enhancing revenues and ensuring better efficiency in collecting them.”
The head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, discussed with the delegation of the Adam Smith International Foundation a set of laws related to developing the financial and banking system.
The two sides discussed important draft laws, including the Securities and Commodities Law, the Banking Studies Center Law, and the Islamic Sukuk Investment Law, with the necessary amendments.
Al-Atwani also reviewed with the delegation the most important challenges facing the financial system in Iraq, as well as the steps and priorities of the Finance Committee within the framework of finding a correct philosophy and rational management of public money and the economy by diversifying sources of income and not relying excessively on oil to feed the state budget.
He stressed that "the Parliamentary Finance Committee, within the framework of its permanent movement and continuous efforts to maximize non-oil revenues, is currently working on amending the law of the General Authority for Monitoring the Allocation of Federal Revenues." LINK
