Iraqi government increases the budget for 2024
Part of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Photo: Shafaq News
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Parliamentary Finance Committee said on Wednesday that the Iraqi government raised the budget for 2024 to 228 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $174.04 billion).
A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mouin Al-Kadhimi, told Shafaq News that the committee discussed with the Minister of Planning the amendments, projects, and reasons why the general budget law has not been sent to the Iraqi Parliament.
“The committee was surprised by the government’s decision to increase the budget for 2024 from 199 trillion Iraqi dinars (nearly $152 billion) to 228 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $174.04 billion),” Al-Kadhimi explained.
The Iraqi lawmaker elaborated that the increase is large compared to the amount spent in 2023, which was 142 trillion Iraqi dinars (nearly $108.4 billion).
Al-Kadhimi indicated that increasing the budget’s overall amount resulted in a rise in the deficit, revealing that the budget is still being discussed in the Council of Ministers and would likely be presented to the Iraqi Parliament next month.
According to Al-Kadhimi, changes caused a delay in the draft budget’s presentation to Parliament, which was scheduled for the end of 2023.