Al-Sudani’s advisor: Kurdistan’s oil costs are behind the delay in sending budget schedules.
Al-Sudani’s advisor: Kurdistan’s oil costs are behind the delay in sending budget schedules.
2025-04-16 04:26
Shafaq News/ The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, revealed on Wednesday the reasons for the delay in sending the 2025 budget tables to the Council of Representatives until now, stressing that the matter relates to amendments related to the costs of extracting and transporting oil from the Kurdistan Region, which required reconsidering the methods of calculation.
Saleh told Shafaq News Agency, “The delay in sending the budget tables for the year 2025 was primarily due to the delay in amending the Federal General Budget Law No. 13 of 2023 (the three-year budget), especially amending Article 12 and issuing the appropriate legislation in February of this year. This amendment concerns the costs of extracting and transporting the region’s oil, which required re-establishing the methods of calculation.”
He added, “It’s no secret that signs of a downward oil price cycle in oil assets come after geopolitical developments in the Russia-Ukraine war zone and the Middle East, the exclusion of oil and gas from the US trade wars, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) removing production quota restrictions on all members.”
Saleh pointed out that “all these events contributed to the stagnation of the global oil market and are among the external factors influencing the map of revenues, expenditures, and deficits in the 2025 budget.”
On Tuesday, the Finance Committee of the Iraqi Parliament expressed its surprise at the government’s delay in submitting the 2025 general budget law schedules to Parliament, despite previous promises.
Committee member Saad al-Nubi told Shafaq News Agency, “The Parliamentary Finance Committee recently hosted both Minister of Planning Mohammed Tamim and Minister of Finance Taif Sami to discuss the 2025 general budget law schedules. The two ministers informed the committee to send the schedules to the Council of Ministers.”
He added, “However, we still note the government’s delay in sending the budget tables to Parliament for discussion and voting,” considering that “there is a clear challenge on the part of the government in not sending the tables to Parliament without knowing the reasons.”
Al-Nubi continued, “The budget was supposed to reach parliament before the end of last month, but we don’t know the reasons for this delay.” He noted that “the committee pressured the Minister of Planning and the Minister of Finance, asking them to explain the reason for the delay in submission, but has not received a response yet.”
shafaq.com
