Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held Monday a meeting with the parliamentary finance committee to discuss the proposed borrowing law and the 2021 state budget.
In remarks on Twitter, the premier’s spokesperson, Ahmed Mulla Talal, said that the meeting was positive and discussed the priority to secure the salaries of the employees.
“We look forward to voting on the fiscal deficit coverage law next Thursday to start releasing employees’ salaries,” he stated.
The Iraqi Ministry of Finance announced last week its inability to pay the salaries of more than 5 million permanent employees.
According to Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi, this came due to lack of financial liquidity because of the decrease in oil prices and the surge in the budget deficit. Consequently, the ministry has asked the parliament to adopt an internal borrowing law to finance the salaries for the remaining three months of the current year.
However, some political blocs and figures have expressed reservations over the amount of the funds that the government had proposed.
In this regard, Al-Sadiqoun parliamentary bloc objected to the borrowing request submitted by the government.
Naim Al-Aboudi, the bloc’s spokesman, said in a press conference that the amount of 30 trillion dinars requested by the government was “very big”, and that the actual need to pay the salaries of employees, retirees and the social security network “does not exceed 8 trillion dinars for the next 3 months.”
Social media platforms on Monday saw unprecedented attacks against the Finance minister, accusing him of obstructing the distribution of employees’ salaries.
The head of the parliamentary Immigration and Displacement Committee, MP Raad Al-Dahlaki, called on Allawi, to submit his resignation before the country reached what he called “a state of collapse.”
