INA discusses with Finance Minister many important files including the general budget, the exchange rate

Baghdad-INA
 
Minister of Finance Taif Sami elaborated on Friday, the priorities of the draft general budget law for the year 2023, and the exchange rate in it, announcing the settlement of the file of appointing lecturers and contract appointees in state institutions.
 
The General Budget
 
Sami said, in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "The ministerial program approved by the Cabinet includes the current expenditures of some ministries, investment projects that the Ministry of Planning worked on and included in the 2023 budget," noting that "the Ministry of Finance received the ministerial program and its expenditures from Ministries included in the general budget.
 
Sami added, "The general budget will focus on the health sector, supporting hospitals, reducing surgeries abroad, supporting vulnerable classes, social care, and people with disabilities, and raising the loan capital ceiling for small projects in the Ministry of Labor."
 
Sami affirmed that “Ministry of Finance is still working on completing the general budget law for the year 2023, as many meetings were held with the Prime Minister to include the directives in the budget, and they have not yet been sent to the Council of Ministers," stressing that "the budget will include the establishment of a development fund, and we set its allocations for the investment platform with the inclusion of a paragraph in the law on how to support it and prepare its internal system and draft within a year.
 
Minister of Finance continued, "The price of a barrel of oil, which has been listed so far in the general budget, amounted to 65 dollars, and it may reach 70 dollars, and the total amount of the budget has not yet been set, while the exchange rate has been listed at 1450."
 
She also stressed, “The draft general budget law may include a study to impose some taxes on the oil derivatives sector if approved by the parliament, which would enhance revenues."
 
Lecturers file
 
Sami said, "The government pays great attention to the lecturers' file and its working to solve their file," noting that "all the lecturers who were included in the financial allocation decision by granting them 250,000 IQD are also included by the decision of appointing in state institutions, and they are considered contract appointees from the date of 2019, and their number is 289,000."
 
Regarding the file of 2020 lecturers, Sami explained that "no fund allocations for the lecturers of the year 2020 within the Food Security Law, as the Minister of Education have to submit the cost of their salaries to the Council of Ministers, to include their costs within Resolution no. 315."
 
Contract appointees
 
Sami indicated that "The file for the permanent appointment of contract employees and workers in state institutions will include everyone who worked two years as contract appointee, and the mechanism for appointing them will be from two directions: the first is the departments that will bear the costs in full, and the other by the allocations of some ministries through the principle of transfers, While the state bears the financial differences for the ministries that have large numbers of employees and few allocations that are not sufficient to cover those numbers.
 
The Exchange Rate
 
Sami noted that "The monetary policy of the state is the responsibility of the Central Bank of Iraq-CBI, but there is an act of solidarity, and an example of this is CBI directives to banks affiliated with the Ministry of Finance to sell the dollar at the official price for travel purposes," indicating that "there is a committee formed on the file of the exchange rate hike, which will present some matters to the cabinet for voting."
 
The minister also stressed that “the talk circulating about the intention of the American side to impose restrictions and penalties on the banking sector and others is untrue," noting that "there is a platform and a joint system between the Federal Bank and the Central Bank that was supposed to be activated since 2018, but it was applied for audit purposes now, so it caused a temporary rise in the exchange rate and it will return to its normal stability again.
 
She indicated that "there are other measures taken to address the high exchange rate, including working on customs exemptions and providing facilities to merchants to prevent smuggling and extortion, and this will achieve positive purposes, including higher revenues," noting that "the Ministry of Agriculture will approve the import license, and the mechanism for issuing it will be within one day".
 
The White Paper
 
Sami added, "The ministerial program included a large number of The White Paper paragraphs, especially the automation of customs and taxes, the comprehensive banking system, the unified treasury, and other files."
 
The Heist of the century
 
Sami pointed out that "there are two payments that have been recovered from the refunded amounts related to tax insurances, and there are other payments that will be recovered and handed over to the Integrity Commission in a special account in coordination with the investigation court."