Reduce fears of Iraqi Kurdistan budget


09-03-2015
Abdul Hamid Zebari-Erbil

Fear province of Kurdistan Iraq to reduce allocations from the general budget of the government in Baghdad, and in light of the intention of the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi conduct reforms in response to the demands of the street to fight corruption.
It takes Iraq's Kurdistan region accounted for 17% of the Iraqi general budget, the ratio is the local government's budget for the region, which runs three provinces of Arbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk.
This percentage is determined based on a formal decision after the policy understandings between the parties in the reign of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in 2005.
He says Kurdistan Alliance MP Ahmed Rashid said there previous attempts to cut through the Territory's budget bill, but has not been passed in the parliament the years 2007 and 2011.
But he said the Baghdad government began working on this cut in light of demands for reforms and preoccupation with the issue of the presidency of the Kurdish region.
Kurdish lawmaker points out that the draft law defines the local budgets according to population density, which means that the Kurdistan share would be 12% of the state budget, according to the Ministry of Physical Planning estimates.
Rashid confirms that the region will not get sufficient funds to manage its affairs in the event of the project was to pass "and after the deduction of expenses and the ruling sovereign share could fall to about 8%" of the general budget for Iraq.

Service aspects
However, the government in Baghdad denies that the reforms announced by Prime Minister al-Abadi damage the rights of the Iraqi factions, including the Kurds, to the fact that all aspects of these reforms and provide the necessary services to the citizens of which relate to.
He says Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi The purpose of the allocation of federal legislation Revenue Authority Act is to ensure the rights of everyone in a fair, stressing that the Iraqi Prime Minister in the past conduct of these reforms.
He adds of the island revealed that the general budget of the country has given 17% of the Kurdistan Regional Government and when they are talking about a certain percentage within another law will resolve the matter in Parliament in the presence and participation of all the blocks.
It is noteworthy that there has been no official census in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to see how many people, but he was determined percentage at 17%, according to estimates of the political leaders.
But the Iraqi Ministry of Planning confirmed that the ratio is 13%, according to estimates of the population increase in the region during the past years.
The Iraqi government in 1988 conducted a comprehensive census in the country, the 1998 census did not cover the region for being outside under the authority of the central government since 1991, it has not been no official census since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Corrupted files
Observers say that the reforms announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and administrative files relating to the corruption of political leaders.
Observers believe these difficult legal reforms joint venture because of sectarian and political consensus between the components of Iraq.
Academic Abdul Hakim Khosro say that these reforms administrative basis and primarily related to the corruption of the class that ruled Iraq during the past ten years and involving Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.
He adds should not affect the rights of components and infrastructure of the Iraqi state reforms, because they are touched by the reforms will emerge from the concept to the "concept of the funeral of the Iraqi state institutions fully."

He pointed out that it was a two Shiite appointment as director of the North Oil Company in Kirkuk before, saying, "I do not think that Iraqi politicians would accept such measures are of Abadi."


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