Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Finance Ministry Adds US$4m to National Budget

Finance Ministry Adds US$4m to National Budget

KABUL - Ministry of Finance has redrafted the federal budget for the new year 1391 with an increase of 200 million Afghani (US$4.15 million) after the previous draft was rejected by Parliament two weeks ago.
Ministry of Finance spokesman Aziz Shams told TOLOnews on Saturday the updated budget has been sent to the House of Representatives for approval with a 100 million Afghani increase in the national budget and a 100 million Afghani increase in the development budget.

"With the 200 million Afghani increase to the overall budget, we hope to meet the Parliament's wishes for approving the budget," he said, adding that he hoped the approval would be soon or some "instrumental projects" to the budget would encounter problems.

The House of Representatives rejected the budget two weeks ago because it said the budget was unsymmetrical in its allocation for the development of different provinces, and because of an allocation of US$80 million to the Central Bank to support Kabul Bank.

The Parliament said not enough was allocated to the less-developed provinces, and specifically there was not enough allocation to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education.

Kabul University economics lecturer, Taj Mohammad Akber, told TOLOnews: "There were some problems in the budget made by the Finance Ministry. But the parliament members should prefer a budget that addresses national needs - usually a national budget is made according to national necessities, not according to specific region or village."

The budget previously totaled US$4.8 billion, a 41 per cent drop on the budget for 1390 because of a decrease in donor interest, according to Senator Abdul Wahab Orfan. (Tolo News)