SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned political parties of consequences of postponing parliament’s voting on the 2021 federal budget bill.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives failed to vote on the draft federal budget law for fiscal year 2021 due to disputes between parties over several issues including loans and dinar exchange rate in the bill.
“Once again, we see the Council of Representatives was unable to vote on the budget [bill] due to political, partisan, sectarian, and [national] differences, forgetting about the suffering of their people,” Sadr said in a tweet late on Sunday.
He called on the parliamentary blocs to end their differences and vote on the budget bill “as soon as possible”, warning them of “the consequences of further postponing it”.
A lawmaker told Al Forat News that articles related to contracts, dinar exchange rate, internally displaced persons and the reconstructions of devastated areas were reasons why the parliament failed to hold its session on Sunday.
The 150-trillion-dinar budget was approved and sent to the parliament in December, with an estimate of 58-trillion-dinar deficit.
The draft law gives an anticipated exchange rate of 1,450 Iraqi dinars for the dollar.
On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament’s committee of finance approved article 11 of the draft budget law related to the Kurdistan Region’s share, ending a long-time dispute between Kurds and Shia parties.
Coordinator of the committee of finance Ahmad Safar said the article includes five clauses. The first clause states the entitlements of the Kurdistan Region and the federal government between 2003 and 2020 should be settled.
Another clause estimates the amount of oil production at the Kurdistan Region’s oilfields at 460,000 barrel per day (bpd), Safar added. Erbil is committed to hand over money of 250,000 bpd to Baghdad in the price that SOMO sells Iraq’s oil, according to another clause of article 11.
The fourth section abides the Kurdistan Region to hand over 50 percent of non-oil revenue to Baghdad, he noted. The last clause states that Baghdad and Erbil are committed to implementing article 11.
“Otherwise, it won’t be implemented,” the fifth clause says, according to Safar.
