Legislature calls on Parliament not to pass new budget exceeding 78 trillion

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A legislature, representing the National Alliance, Parliament is urged not to pass the draft-law on Iraq‘s 2011 budget unless the high salaries of the three leading officials, parliament members and officials holding special degrees, be reduced, a legislature representing the National Alliance has said. Legislature Maha al-Douri has called on the Parliament “not to vote on Iraq‘s 2011 budget, unless after taking a decision to reduce the high salaries of the (President, Vice-Presidents, the Prime Minister and his deputies, and the Parliament Speaker), the parliament members and officials holding special degrees, and the transformation of their huge differences to serve the interests of other citizens, through the building of projects to appoint the unemployed workers, increase social welfare salaries for widows and orphans,” a statement received by IraqiNews.com noted. The Iraqi Parliament held its 18th session to listen to the first reading of the draft-law for the Federal General Budget of 2011, reaching 78.705.237.500.000 Iraqi dinars (US$70.4 billions (b) approx.), according to the general accounts. “The said salaries, implemented by the U.S. occupation forces’ Civilian Ruler, Paul Bremer, had created huge differences in the incomes of citizens and officials, causing a huge gap between the ruler and the ruled, thus creating a feeling of distrust and hatred from the citizen towards the official,” Douri stressed. The 2011 Federal Budget had been counted on the revenues of Iraq‘s oil exports that exceeded 2,240,000 barrels per day (bpd), including150,000 pbd, exported from northern Iraq‘s Kurdistan Region, on basis of 73 US dollars per barrel. MA (A) / SKH/SR 163