LEAD STORY: Iraq’s Planning Minister receives Finance Minister’s post on acting basis

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Planning Minister, Ali al-Shukri, has said on Thursday that he had been officially assigned to steer the Finance Ministry on acting basis, according to a decision by the Council of Ministers. “The Council of Ministers has officially assigned me to carry out the administration of the Finance Ministry, on acting basis, instead of the current Finance Minister, Rafi’a al-Issawi, due to his boycott of the Council of Ministers sessions,” Shukri told IraqiNews.com news agency Shukri added during a visit to the city of Najaf on Thursday that “he would discuss the 2012 General Budget next Saturday, “adding that “in the event of the end of the current crisis and the decision of al-Iraqiya Alliance to end its refusal to attend the meetings of the Council of Ministers and the Parliament, things would return to their normal status.” The Iraqi Council of Ministers had decided to grant al-Iraqiya ministers, who boycotted the Council’s meetings, an open leave till the settlement of the issue related to their boycott of the meetings.