Parliament begins session to vote on 2009 budget

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament started its session on Thursday under First Deputy Speaker Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya to vote on the 2009 federal budget. Parliament completed the second reading of the 2009 federal budget during its regular session on (Feb. 24), and the first reading on (Feb. 18). Iraq has been forced to cut the 2009 budget twice already, from an initial $80 billion to $62 billion, as global oil prices slumped from a record high of $147 per barrel last summer. But the latest version of the spending plans is still dependent on a potentially optimistic average oil price during the year of $50 per barrel. Crude prices are closer to $40 now. Sami al-Atrushi, a member of parliament’s finance committee, had said the finance committee had decided to narrow down parliament’s options on budget cuts to three choices. The first called for a 10 percent reduction in the overall budget, or 7 trillion Iraqi dinars ($5.9 billion) in cuts. The second option was for cuts in operational spending of 6-7 trillion Iraqi dinars but would leave investment spending untouched. The third choice was to lop 10 percent off all spending by government ministries. That would result in total cuts of around 1 trillion Iraqi dinars, Atrushi said.   SH (S)/SR 1