Iraq’s Finance Minister Says Completes 2023 Budget Bill

 Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami meets with officials in Baghdad. (Iraqi Finance Ministry)
Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami meets with officials in Baghdad. (Iraqi Finance Ministry)
TT
20

Iraq’s Finance Minister Says Completes 2023 Budget Bill

 Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami meets with officials in Baghdad. (Iraqi Finance Ministry)
Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami meets with officials in Baghdad. (Iraqi Finance Ministry)

Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami announced the completion of the draft of the federal budget law for 2023 and its submission to the Cabinet for discussion and a vote.

According to a statement by Sami, the bill was prepared during extraordinary circumstances endured by the global economy and was drafted to handle impact of international, regional, and local economic challenges.

The finance minister stated that the budget bill will focus on development, support for the social protection network, and low-income families, as well as providing a secure cover for sustainable strategic and development projects.

“Throughout the past months of the new government’s tenure, we have worked on coming up with a budget that meets the needs of the Iraqi economy and is consistent with the government program,” she said.

Meanwhile, Diaa al-Nasseri, advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, revealed that the budget will be approved by the government on Monday.

Labeling the budget as “smart,” al-Nasseri said that it will focus on projects.

It has been nearly two years since the last time the country passed a budget bill. The delay was caused by the failure of the political forces to form a government for more than a year since elections were held in late 2021.

The biggest obstacle facing the budget, according to economists, is the fluctuation of the exchange rate of the dinar against the US dollar.

The government has been exerting efforts to address the issue.



Food Security Experts Warn Gaza Is at Critical Risk of Famine if Israel Doesn’t End Its Campaign 

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Food Security Experts Warn Gaza Is at Critical Risk of Famine if Israel Doesn’t End Its Campaign 

Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2025. (Reuters)

The Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign, food security experts said Monday.

Outright famine is the most likely scenario unless conditions change, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.

Nearly a half million Palestinians are in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, meaning they face possible starvation, the report said, while another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.

Israel has banned any food, shelter, medicine or other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations.

Gaza’s population of around 2.3 million people relies almost entirely on outside aid to survive, because Israel’s 19-month-old military campaign has wiped away most capacity to produce food inside the territory.

The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not respond to a request for comment on the IPC report.

The army has said that enough assistance entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire that Israel shattered in mid-March when it relaunched its military campaign.

Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds.