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| Iraq | |
| Disputes stall IraqÂ’s 2008 budget in parliament | |
| 2008-01-23 | |
| BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers have refused to ratify the nation’s 2008 budget, the expected passage of which had been praised by Washington as a sign of progress, because of disputes over Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani called the heads of Iraq’s main political blocs to a meeting in his office late on Monday after they failed to sign off on the $48 billion budget, and urged them to pass it when parliament next sits on Thursday. ‘The speaker urged all members and heads of blocs who have reservations on the 2008 budget...to hurry and approve the budget in order to provide for the fundamental needs of the Iraqi people,’ Mashhadani’s office said in a statement issued on Tuesday. Mashhadani and Finance Minister Bayan Jabor met the leaders of the major blocs late on Monday to explain the government’s position, Mashhadani’s office said. US officials in Baghdad have praised the budget and this month’s passage of a law allowing former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to rejoin the government and military as evidence of progress. Lawmakers were also being urged to sign off on the increased budget to stimulate Iraq’s economy and take advantage of significant security improvements, with attacks across the country down by 60 percent since last June. But what had looked like a smooth passage of the budget disintegrated late on Monday amid continued disagreement between Shia , Sunni Arab and Kurdish lawmakers. One key dispute was the 17 percent of the budget allocated to the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, based on population estimates, with additional funds set aside to pay for Kurdistan’s peshmerga security forces. The Kurdistan issue has been simmering for months, with arguments over whether the allocation accurately reflected the Kurdish population. In the absence of an accurate census, other lawmakers have argued that Kurdistan should only receive 12 percent of the budget. Several MPs also said Kurdistan should pay for the peshmergas itself. Nassar Al Rubaie, head of a bloc loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr which walked out of the government last year, also voiced concern about what he said were inadequate allocations for teachers and concerns over food rationing. A representative of Shia Fadhila bloc said his group would not agree to the current form of the budget because of what he described as ‘unjustifiable allocations’.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Amazing how quickly they learn the fine skills of the beltway. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-23 09:45 |