Kurdistan Parliament speaker calls to speed up budget approval

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The speaker of Iraq’s Kurdistan parliament on Sunday called for speeding up the approval of the region’s 2009 budget, according to a statement released by his office. “During his reception of the region’s Finance Minister Bayez al-Talabani, Adnan al-Mufti stressed the need for speeding up the submission of the 2009 budget so it can be thoroughly studied by the Parliament,” read the statement that was received by IraqiNews.com news agency. Al-Mufti called for presenting accurate figures on the region’s revenues, apart from its 17 percent share of the federal budget. On March 5, the Iraqi Parliament approved a cut of 5 trillion Iraqi dinars, or around $4.3 billion, off the general budget, which was brought down to $58 billion. SS (P) 1