Budget is Based on $56 a Barrel, Lowered From $60 a Barrel in Earlier Drafts
BAGHDAD—Iraq’s parliament has approved the country’s 2015 budget following weeks of debate on lower oil prices and how to write in a landmark oil export deal reached last year between Baghdad and the northern Kurdistan region.
The budget is based on $56 a barrel of crude, lowered from $60 a barrel in earlier drafts. Despite lower projected revenues from oil sales, the budget projects a deficit of $20 billion compared with $40 billion in an earlier version.
The vote Thursday marked a step forward, as rival blocs in parliament agreed to push through a budget that is badly needed for fiscal planning as Iraq’s finances reel from a plunge in global oil prices and a costly military campaign against Islamic extremists.
Iraq didn’t pass a 2014 budget.
Since December, parliament meetings to approve the 2015 draft budget have been bogged down by debate, mostly over what oil price to base the budget on and how to account for exports from the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said this year’s budget would be an austerity budget, focusing on slashing the bloated public sector and freeing up funds for military spending as Iraqi forces battle Islamic State.
Parliament’s economy and investment committee had initially described the draft as “a budget of punishment for the Iraqi people.” Some committee members criticized the draft—which outlines revenue generation under an oil export deal struck in December between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government—unfairly benefits the Kurdistan region, “while the rest of Iraq suffers austerity.”
Sunnis in parliament, too, had threatened to boycott the vote because the draft budget didn’t include funding provisions for a national guard—a security force meant to empower Sunnis within the Shiite-led government as it fights Islamic State.
Opening the voting session, parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri said all disagreements over the budget had been resolved. “Iraqis have been waiting for this for a long time,” Mr. Jabouri said.
original source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqs-parliament-approves-2015-budget-following-oil-price-debate-1422560208