A parliamentarian, after meeting with Taif Sami, said: Iraq is facing a real financial crisis with an unprecedented deficit.
A parliamentarian, after meeting with Taif Sami, said: Iraq is facing a real financial crisis with an unprecedented deficit.
2025-05-29 04:08
Shafaq News/ Member of Parliament Raed al-Maliki stated on Thursday that Iraq is facing a “real” financial crisis and an “unprecedented” deficit, with debt rising to more than $130 billion.
Maliki said in a statement following his meeting with Finance Minister Taif Sami that the latter “does not intend to submit budget schedules and has not prepared them at all, due to the Central Bank governor’s refusal to borrow to cover the large deficit,” adding that “revenues are insufficient even to cover salaries.”
He added that the Minister of Finance commented on granting margins with the Prime Minister’s approval to confirm contracts or add allocations, saying: “It doesn’t work because the budget prohibits appointments.”
Al-Maliki also noted that “the Ministry of Finance has suspended salary transfers to Kurdistan Region employees due to the region’s financial dues being met and the regional government’s failure to pay revenues,” he said.
He continued, saying, “The Minister of Finance refuses to issue bonuses and promotions to ministry employees until the budget schedules are approved.
Regarding the amendment to the Internal Security Forces Service and Retirement Law, Al-Maliki stated that it is “under study within the ministry to determine the extent of the additional costs.”
Regarding the country’s true financial situation, MP Al-Maliki said, “Iraq is facing a real financial crisis, and the government is concealing it. The actual deficit has reached unprecedented levels, with debt rising to over $130 billion.”
He continued, “Despite this, the government continues to issue irresponsible decisions that add financial burdens and additional expenses, the latest of which was its decision to approve the “Baghdad, a More Beautiful Baghdad, Phase Two” plan, for which nearly 160 billion dinars were allocated, in addition to the funds spent on the summit and donations.”
Al-Maliki noted that “this decision to spend money on cosmetic projects comes at a time when dozens, even hundreds, of infrastructure projects are being run on credit, and contractors’ unpaid dues have reached trillions. The 2016 scenario could be repeated with these projects,” adding that “all of this is so that it can be said that so-and-so’s government is working.”
He believed that “the Baghdad Municipality’s revenues could make Baghdad much more beautiful if they were collected and invested properly and kept away from corruption, instead of encroaching on the entitlements of ministry employees, and without the need for any central funding.”
Al-Maliki pointed out that “the government has withdrawn trust funds, seized employee bonuses and promotions, and begun selling off assets, including green houses, to cover operating expenses and projects, many of which are unnecessary.”
In conclusion, the MP expressed his regret that Parliament and the Finance Committee did not perform their duties properly, and remained silent and turned a blind eye to the mismanagement of the financial file and financial policy.
shafaq.com
