Controversy and complaints over the reduction in governorate allocations in the 2024 budget!
Controversy and complaints over the reduction in governorate allocations in the 2024 budget!
06-09-2024
The 2024 budget schedules created a state of controversy and a paradox recorded in history, perhaps occurring for the first time in Iraqi budgets, represented by the consent of the Kurdish parties regarding the financial allocations, in exchange for objection and complaint from the rest of the country’s governorates, which considered the size of the allocations not commensurate with the size of projects and population ratios.
The Karbala Governorate Council considered the 2024 budget schedules and the allocations it contained as “political,” while it did not rule out “delay in projects.”
Council member Anwar Al-Yassari said in an interview with Al-Sumaria, “Reducing allocations in the budget tables is a political issue and a clear targeting of Karbala Governorate, which has completed important projects and outperformed several governorates.”
He added, “The situation in Iraq is moving towards combating the positives,” considering that “there are projects that will be delayed due to weak allocations, but we are working within the council to take important solutions.”
The same applies to Basra, which also objected to its share, considering that the schedules received from the government “contain great injustice.”
The head of the Finance and Administrative Committee of the Basra Provincial Council, Shukr Mahmoud Al-Amiri, told Al-Sumaria TV, “The budget was disappointing, and the amount allocated to Basra may reach one trillion dinars, while the size of the projects submitted reaches 6 trillion dinars.”
Previously, Mahmoud considered that the 2024 budget allocations constituted a shock to the governorate. He said, during an interview with the Twenty program broadcast on Al-Sumaria TV, that “Basra Governorate’s debts are estimated at 800 billion dinars, and the governorate’s petrodollar dues amount to 45 trillion dinars.” He stated that “the number of cancer patients in Basra exceeds the hospital capacity.”
Shukr considered that “the 2024 budget allocations inflicted great injustice on Basra,” stressing that “Basra’s representatives and government will come together as one hand to demand its rights.”
In the same context, the head of the Finance Committee in the Diwaniyah Provincial Council, Khudair Al-Mayahi, said in a special statement to Al-Sumaria that “the allocation of 78 billion dinars is the governorate’s share of the development of the regions, and this is not enough to complete the governorate’s projects, and Diwaniyah is not enough for even 200 billion, so how about this small amount, especially since the governorate is one of the largest… The poorest governorates, and this was not taken into account in the federal budget tables.”
He pointed out that “there will be serious cooperation by the local government and members of Parliament to put pressure on the federal government to increase financial allocations to the governorate,” pointing out that “bureaucracy and delays in approvals by the government in Baghdad in approving projects, and at times the project amounts are returned and at others they are returned for administrative and technical reasons.” “All of this causes delays.”
The Najaf Council also spoke about a defect in the provision of services unless the government increased allocations, as a member of the Provincial Council, Farouk Al-Ghazali, told Al-Sumaria, “The budget included an item distributing 2 trillion dinars to the governorates, but the government is not bound by that item received from Parliament.” He continued: “The amount allocated to Najaf is very small and is not commensurate with the lack of services and the existing population. As a result, there will be an imbalance in the provision of services.”
Al-Ghazali explained, “The problem in Najaf is with the projects referred to the ministries, as there is a great delay in them,” pointing out that the sea sewers project was launched in 2008 and was scheduled to end in 2010 and has not been completed yet, as well as the large water project that was established in 2014 and was scheduled to end. Work on it took place in 2016, while it has not been completed yet, and the land Hajj road is also one of the lagging projects, and all of these projects are referred to the Ministry of Construction and Housing.”
The head of the Salah al-Din Governorate Council, Adel al-Sumaidaie, also spoke, indicating that “the budget is not sufficient for the governorate’s projects. There are population ratios and districts that differ in their needs for services.”
He added to Al-Sumaria, “The east of the governorate was subjected to great destruction due to military operations. These are districts with a large population percentage and need larger allocations,” noting that “the allocations are not sufficient for large projects.” Al-Sumaidaie concluded, “This budget now does not meet the typical and actual need for the governorate’s projects.”
Nineveh was also on the verge of suffering, as a member of the Provincial Council, Ahmed Al-Dobardani, pointed out that “Nineveh’s share of the budget is 11%, and this percentage is not enough to meet the needs of the province until the end of the year, because there are several projects that need reconstruction or reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructure.” We have Nineveh Airport, large hospitals, and the sixth and seventh bridge.”
Al-Dobardani continued in an interview with Al-Sumaria: “We will review the governorate’s plan and approve it if no comments are made about it. Otherwise, we will return the plan to the governorate for the purpose of amendment and redistribution of the amounts to the sectors.”
The situation in Kurdistan is different, and it is satisfied! The representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc, Sharif Suleiman, described the Kurdistan region’s share in the federal budget as “fair,” indicating that prior political agreements decided its passage.
Suleiman said in an interview with Al-Sumaria News, “The political agreement that occurred between the governments of the center and the region is the basis for agreeing on the region’s share of the budget amounting to 12.67%,” adding, “We are happy that there were no bidding or arguments regarding voting on the budget tables and the region’s share.” In which”.
He added, “The region’s share in the budget tables is fair and not bad in light of the reality that Iraq is experiencing,” noting, “We hope that the budget will be applied in the correct manner agreed upon and that it will not be subject to political quarrels and bidding or be used as a pressure card.”
In this case, the controversy and controversy surrounding the financial schedules received from the government and voted on under the dome of Parliament, prompted some representatives to appeal, amid talk of “constitutional and legal violations.”
Wednesday, a member of the House of Representatives, Raed Al-Maliki, announced an appeal against the 2024 budget schedules, while noting that there were “legal and constitutional violations” at their core.
Al-Maliki said, in an interview with Al-Sumaria News, that “the objection to the 2024 budget tables does not lie in the lack of financial allocations to the governorates, but rather in the presence of fundamental legal violations as well as constitutional violations,” indicating that “based on these violations, he filed an appeal against the budget tables.”
But Al-Maliki had a problem with the internal regulations of the Federal Court. “Because no citizen or member of parliament is allowed to object to the budget law, and only the government, ministries, and governors are allowed to do so,” considering this matter “unconstitutional, because it wastes the right to litigation guaranteed to every Iraqi citizen and the right to defend public funds.”
Last Monday, the House of Representatives completed voting on the schedules of the amended Federal Budget Law No. 2024 for the year 13 and its annexed schedules (A/B/C/D/E/F).
Representative Al-Maliki confirmed that he did not “vote” on the tables, calling on the governors to “follow up on the recommendation to increase governorate allocations for the development of the regions, noting that there were explicit and binding texts present in the budget law, but they were not implemented by the central government.”
He continued, “Many governorates complained of lack of allocations in addition to weak financial liquidity, which will negatively affect their projects and may lead to their cessation.”
The 2024 budget, according to what Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani announced last Sunday, amounts to 211 trillion dinars, and employee salaries for the year 2024 amount to 62 trillion dinars, while the 2023 budget amounted to 199 trillion dinars and employee salaries amounted to 59 trillion dinars.
Several governorate councils complained about the reduced financial allocations compared to the previous year, and expressed their rejection of the governorate’s shares that they represent in the 2024 budget tables.
According to Al-Sudani, the revenues of the 2024 budget are estimated at 144 trillion and 336 billion dinars, while expenditures amount to 210 trillion and 936 billion dinars, while the deficit is 63 trillion and 599 billion dinars.
Al-Sudani said, “The governorates’ allocations to local government programs with an investment allocation amounted to 10.633 trillion dinars in 2023, and we financed 3.333 trillion dinars, based on fundamental requests from the governorates,” adding: “The remainder of the allocation is 7.333 trillion dinars in a trust account.” “At the disposal of the provincial governments.”
As for the report issued by the Finance Committee on the 2024 budget schedules, it highlighted many paragraphs related to the changes occurring in the current schedules compared to the past 2023.
On June 12, 2023, the Iraqi Parliament voted on the federal budget law for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025, in an initiative that is the first of its kind in the country’s history in terms of the size of the budget as well as the number of fiscal years, with a value of 197 trillion and 828 billion dinars, and a financial deficit of 63 trillion. Dinar.
According to the Finance Committee report, the changes in employee compensation changed in the Popular Mobilization Forces, and the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Health, Education, and Higher Education. The highest increase in the value of salaries was for the Ministry of Education, amounting to 700 billion dinars, followed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Defense, and Interior, with an increase of 600 billion dinars for each ministry. And then the Health and Mobilization Forces, with an increase of 400 billion dinars each, most likely due to the hiring of new grades.
As the tables showed, the estimated non-oil revenues increased from 17 trillion in 2023 to 27 trillion in 2024.
The Finance Committee recommended that the Iraqi government “make a transfer of 2 trillion dinars to increase the regional development budget.” However, this recommendation remains non-binding for the federal government.
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