Iraqi cabinet approves 2023 budget of about 200 trillion dinars
Shafaq News/ Iraq's Council of Ministers held its 11th regular session on Monday, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani, and approved the budget bill for 2023, 2024, and 2025. The bill will be referred to parliament for approval, according to the Prime Minister's media office.
The government's decision to approve the budget bill for three years was based on its "confidence in its vision and approach," Al-Sudani said. The budget will be repeated for three years under Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019, which authorizes the Council of Ministers to submit a budget for three years.
In the construction and infrastructure sector, the Council of Ministers assigned a public company affiliated with the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities, and Public Works, the project of constructing the Daquq Bridge, exempt from the instructions for implementing government contracts.
To support societal reconciliation, the Council of Ministers agreed that the Ministry of Finance would provide five billion dinars to the Sunni Endowment Office from the allocations of the Endowment Office for the previous year.
In recognition of the upcoming anniversary of the tragedy of Halabja, the Council of Ministers approved a bill to establish the Halabja Governorate and sent it to the parliament.
During a press conference, Al-Sudani announced that the 2023 draft budget is worth 197.828 trillion Iraqi dinars ($135.6 billion), and the budget deficit will average 63.275 billion dinars.
"Iraq is expected to export 3,500 thousand barrels per day, including 500 thousand barrels from Iraqi Kurdistan, and the price of one barrel of oil is about $70," Al-Sudani said.
Moreover, an agreement has been reached to end the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over Kurdistan Region's oil revenues. "For the first time, we reached an agreement to deposit Kurdistan's oil revenues in one bank account…it is also authorized to the Iraqi and Kurdish prime ministers to monitor the account," Al-Sudani added.
