Deputy Saba Al-Saadi confirmed today, Monday, that the budget crisis in resource-rich countries, including Iraq, is linked to the extent of reliance on oil revenues, the inflation of operational expenditures, and the weakness of non-oil revenues. She emphasized that the regular payment of salaries does not solely depend on the size of the planned budget but also on the actual revenues and the available liquidity in the treasury.
Al-Saadi stated in a press interview seen by the "Video News Agency," that "the decline in oil prices or a decrease in export quantities directly impacts revenues at a time when monthly obligations remain fixed, especially salaries of employees and retirees, social protection networks, in addition to debts and expenditures for energy and services." She explained that "the widening gap between revenues and current expenditures places the government in front of increasing financial challenges."
She added that "the dominance of operational expenditures over the budget reduces the available space for investment spending and turns the budget from a tool for supporting development and diversifying the economy into a means to cover ongoing commitments, which increases the financial situation's vulnerability to any decline in oil revenues and limits the state's ability to implement projects and create job opportunities."
Al-Saadi indicated that "addressing the crisis requires serious action to increase non-oil revenues by controlling border crossings, automating customs and tax procedures, improving the collection of service fees, and reforming loss-making public companies," as well as "activating the sectors of agriculture, tourism, and industry, and investing in natural resources." She asserted that "the priority should be to collect due revenues and combat tax evasion and waste, rather than imposing new burdens on citizens."
She pointed out that "there are areas that can be reviewed to reduce spending without affecting employee salaries or essential services, including redundant administrative expenses, delegations, conferences, hospitality, inflation of government structures, double salaries, and stalled projects that drain funds without achieving completion rates commensurate with the size of expenditure."
Al-Saadi noted that "asking citizens to practice austerity while administrative expenditures continue weakens trust in government actions." She affirmed that "financial reform should begin with rationalizing the spending of state institutions before requesting citizens to bear additional burdens, along with the need to publish periodic financial data that clarifies oil and non-oil revenues and the size of expenditures on salaries, operations, and investment, allowing the public to monitor the management of public funds and hold negligent parties accountable."