Mazhar Muhammad Salih: There is no truth to my resignation as a result of a statement to the official newspaper
Mazhar Muhammad Salih: There is no truth to my resignation as a result of a statement to the official newspaper
2022.03.30 – 15:45
Baghdad – people
On Wednesday, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, denied the news of his resignation.
Saleh said in a clarification followed by “Nass” (March 30, 2022): “What was published about the news about my resignation as a result of a statement in Al-Sabah newspaper because of what was attributed to us (falsely) about our objection to the draft law on emergency support for food security and development, is shameful news about Health and written in a mean way from the category of ignorant transgressors.”
He added, “The preparation of the news came from a slanderous semi-media personality of the tenth type who seeks to mix papers, so the news is baseless and does not deserve to look at its content.”
And some media and social networking sites circulated news that “Mazhar Muhammad Salih, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, has resigned against the background of a statement to the official newspaper regarding the draft law on emergency support for food security and development.”
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained, earlier, the details of the draft law on “emergency support for food security and development”, which the House of Representatives finished its discussion today.
Saleh told “Nass” (March 28, 2022): “The draft law on emergency support for food security and development is to support food aid, as the announced spending ceiling is about 35 trillion Iraqi dinars, distributed between ration card support and support for the poor, through Social welfare, a grant of one hundred thousand dinars, and others.
He added: “But something new has been added to the 35 trillion dinars, which is the surplus of oil imports, as the sale of Iraqi oil touches $100, and the 1/12 exchange continues on the 2021 budget, according to Article 13 of the Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019, which states However, in the absence of a budget, the disbursement is 1/12, as the budget is distributed over 12 months equally in current expenditures.
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister continued, “There are two types of exchange, the first comes from 1/12 that covers salaries, wages and ongoing projects, and the other comes from the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development, and in my estimation, this law will have a deficit and financing the deficit, as it is more like a budget And regardless of this precautionary clause that the state may borrow or not, this depends on the cash flows that will come from oil price differentials, which will be more than 1/12 and are sufficient for the existing 35 trillion for the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development.
He explained, “The law of emergency support for food security and development has two parts: operational and investment. As for the operational, it concerns the operating budget, or operational expenses that are for the poor, in terms of increasing the items of the ration card and the number of its meals, and at the same time it supports the poor segments in terms of including new numbers Social care salaries with an increase in the family or individual’s share in social care.
He continued: “As for the second investment part, which is important in my estimation, so that new projects do not stop, the law supposes the adoption of new projects and spending on them so that life does not stop, through surpluses or borrowing, and this is very important.”
And Saleh stated, “The law of emergency support for food security and development included a debt repayment clause. In the 2021 budget, the parliament refused to pay the internal debts that it had a share of the internal debt repayment allocations by extinguishing part of the installments and interests, but the parliament suspended the debt extinguishment only and kept the benefits”.
He pointed out that “this year the government wants to pay the internal debts, so it put the debt repayment clause in this law, which was formulated in a hybrid manner, and in the event that the law is combined with Paragraph 13 of the Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019 by spending 1/12 with the 35 trillion, We will have an expansionary budget, but its form is a hybrid, which is the combination of the Financial Management Law and the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development.”
He pointed out that “this is a compromise due to the lack of approval of the budget, and the problem and controversies can be resolved in the event of adopting a draft budget for 2022 that includes and absorbs these increases and becomes under one law and not under two laws, because the exchange will become according to two laws and each law differs from the other, but the exchange unit is one.” “.
Earlier, the House of Representatives, in its fifth session, headed by Muhammad al-Halbousi, and attended by 258 deputies, had read a report and discussed the draft law on emergency support for food security and development.
A statement of the Council, of which “Nass” received a copy (March 28, 2022), stated that “at the beginning of the session, Al-Halbousi directed the heads of the parliamentary blocs and representatives of the components to submit the names of their representatives from the parliament soon to form a committee to consider the constitutional amendments.”
He added, “The Speaker noted that today, the names of the members of the parliamentary committees will be decided and announced in a meeting chaired by the First Deputy, Hakim Al-Zamili, and then presented for a vote.”
And he added, “The council finished reading the report and discussing the draft law on emergency support for food security and development, submitted by the Finance Committee.”
The interventions of the deputies focused – according to the statement – “on the demand to reconsider some articles of the draft law, specifying it with food and health security only, and making observations on the internal and external borrowing paragraph, and restricting the law to a time limit, as well as asking the government to speed up sending the general budget law instead of a draft. The emergency food subsidy law or the postponement of its legislation, in addition to expressing a number of parliamentary objections to the project for violating constitutional articles.
In its response to the interventions, the concerned committee affirmed “its keenness to take into account all opinions and proposals submitted on the draft law,” noting that “the committee will host the Minister of Finance tomorrow, Tuesday, to discuss the issue,” according to the statement.
The statement pointed out that “two requests were received by the presidency of the council regarding the questioning of a minister and the head of an independent body,” noting that “they will be announced in a later session once the legal procedures are completed.”
nasnews.com
