Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Draft Budget to Land Again in Wolesi Jirga

Draft Budget to Land Again in Wolesi Jirga

KABUL - Some Wolesi Jirga members Monday criticised cancelation of  session and said the draft budget for 2017 fiscal year was ready to land again in the house next week.
Cancelation of session
The Wolesi Jirga holds its general sessions on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday in a week and its commissions meet on Sunday and Tuesday, but yesterday the general session was not held.
Rahima Jami, a lawmaker from Herat province, said: “We received message that today some drafts laws will be discussed by different panels, but the offices were occupied by senators and the day was lost.”
Meshrano Jirga’s general sessions are held on Sunday and Tuesday and commissions meet Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.
Commissions of both the houses, according to their term, should use commission offices.
Draft budget
The Wolesi Jirga has rejected the draft budget for 2017 over what lawmakers called funding disparities among provinces and other problems.
Amir Khan Yar, head of the Wolesi Jirga economic commission, said different panels of the house had discussed the draft budgets in their meetings.
He listed the lack of development balance, a decline in revenue in the coming year, lack of attention to women and education and non-availability of a proper mechanism for the execution of projects as the main flaws.
The Finance Ministry says 287 billion afghanis have been set aside for the general budget and 178 billion afghanis for development spending. A sum of 150 billion afghanis, 32 percent of the total budget, would come through national revenue.
The remaining budget would be funded through foreign aid. Thirty-six percent of the budget will go to security, 21 percent to infrastructure development, 13 percent to education, six percent to agriculture and the rest to other sectors.
Under Articles 75 and 98 of the Constitution, the budget should be approved in line with the national development strategy and its implementation should pave the ground for the development of all parts of the country. (Pajhwok)