The Ministry of Finance completes the 2025 budget schedules, and Al-Kadhimi warns: It must reflect the economic reality and the decline in oil prices

The Ministry of Finance is moving toward completing final preparations for the 2025 budget schedules within the next few days. Meanwhile, parliamentary finance committee member Moeen Al-Kadhimi stressed the need for these schedules to reflect the current economic reality, especially in light of the decline in oil prices.

Al-Kadhimi explained in a statement followed by (Al-Mada) that "the schedules the ministry is working on are routine and were prepared according to a mechanism that has been followed for a long time," adding that it is likely that "they will be presented to the Finance Committee after the Eid al-Adha holiday, where they are expected to be reviewed in a single session during which recommendations will be presented and ratified by Parliament."

He explained that "the House of Representatives has the authority to reduce financial allocations without increasing them," adding that "the Finance Committee intends to use this right to control the size of public spending and align it with available resources."

He pointed out that "the 2023 budget amounted to 199 trillion dinars, but the actual expenditure did not exceed 146 trillion dinars. As for 2024, the budget was estimated at 211 trillion dinars, while only 156 trillion dinars have been implemented so far."

Al-Kadhimi stressed that "the 2025 budget schedules must be more realistic and based on actual revenues, not estimates," emphasizing "the need to take into account the financial challenges associated with declining oil revenues, while achieving a balance between the requirements of ministries and the aspirations of governorates, on the one hand, and the government's actual ability to finance, on the other."   link