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Iraq parliamentary committee approves reducing the budget

February 5, 2021 at 2:57 pm

An Iraqi counts his dinar banknotes on 22 June 2017 [Ali Choukeir/AFP/Getty Images]

The Financial Committee of the Iraqi Parliament today voted in favor of reducing the federal budget for 2021 from 164 trillion dinars ($113.1 billion) to 130 trillion dinars (about $89.6 billion), in a move aimed at reducing the deficit.

On 22 December, the Iraqi government approved the 2021 budget of 164 trillion dinars, with a total deficit of 76 trillion dinars (about $32.4 billion), and referred it to parliament for a vote.

The head of the Parliament’s Finance Committee, Haitham Al-Jubouri, told Anadolu Agency: “The committee voted to reduce the deficit in the federal budget from 47 per cent to 19 per cent.”

Al-Jubouri added: “The financial deficit in the budget referred by the government was 76 trillion dinars (about $32.4 billion), and now it has been reduced to 25 trillion dinars (about $17.2 billion).”

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He explained that the committee also voted to reduce the budget of the three presidencies (the republic, the government and parliament) by 20 per cent, and cancel deductions from the salaries of state employees and retirees.

Parliament will vote on the amendments in a session to be determined by the president.