The Lower House of Parliament has rejected draft budget for the new fiscal year. Different committees of the house had studied the draft and called the parliament to reject it for: unequal allocation of development budget for provinces and unjustifiable mega-millions for expenses of the Presidential Palace.

MPs say the Palace budget should be reduced and allocated for public welfare programs. One MP remarked that $76million for Palace budget is more than $64million for legislature and judiciary together. A huge amount has been put for unplanned schemes.

A huge majority of MPs present, 128 out of 133 rejected the draft. The government had proposed development spending worth 170 billion Afghanis and a general budget of 196 billion Afghanis. About 70 percent of the development budget proposal is based on aid pledges while 30 percent would be financed through the government revenue.

National revenue will account for 55 percent of the general budget, and 45 percent depending on foreign assistance. Other allocations include: 39.6 percent of the budget for security sector, 15.6 percent for government departments and natural resources, 15.1 percent for education sector, 9.6 percent for agriculture and rural development, 3.8 percent for public health, 4.2 percent for 'good governance and rule of law', 2.8 percent on economy and one percent on social security, while Presidential fund is projected at 8.3 percent.

The cabinet should review the budget in light of recommendations and objections from parliament. The balanced development principle has been violated in provincial budget distribution. The allocation of budget for Presidential Palace is outrageously high, particularly on security spending.

Every year MPs reject budget for continuous reasons of imbalanced development budget for provinces. It is violation of the Constitution. There are clauses asking the Government to ensure balanced development, but for the last many years, some specific provinces have been receiving all mega-million development projects, while the poorest and most vulnerable places have been ignored due to shameless and unfortunate discrimination and regionalism among the rulers. It has been argued by different intellectuals in the past that the parliament should take a particle step in this regard and bring a no-confidence vote against the Finance Minister.