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Annexure-I
General Outlines of 1387 Budget
President Ahmadinejad
Parliamentarians approved the outline of the 1387 (March
2008 - 2009) Budget Bill. The outline of the bill, the
third to be presented by the incumbent administration of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since taking office in August
2005, was ratified by 187 votes to 47 with 19 abstentions.
The review of the bill began and based on Majlis bylaw,
lawmakers began voting after 15 opponents and 15 proponents
delivered their views. President Ahmadinejad was present in
the Majlis’ session to defend the bill. The president’s move
was taken since next year’s budget is drafted by employing a
new budgeting system. It is unprecedented for the chief
executive to be present in the Majlis for the second time to
defend his budget bill. President said that the budget is
transparent, acknowledging a change in methodology of
compiling the budget design. The MPs had challenged
conformity of the budget bill with the 20-Year Outlook Plan
(2005-25). He said that the bill was the outcome of over 100
hours of hard work by him and his experts. This was the
first time that a president was sharing his authority with
his ministers and governor generals. Majlis commissions
specialized in examining the budget plan and earmarking
credits started their work on next year budget bill on the
7th of January when it was presented by President
Ahmadinejad. Criticizing the method of drawing up budget
bill, the president said that after various studies, it was
noticed that there was problem with the budgeting system as
it took long time (six months) to formulate the bill and a
much longer time to implement that through complicated
administrative channels. The erstwhile Management and
Planning Organization was responsible for drawing up the
budget bills over the past three decades. President
Ahmadinejad
dissolved
the body handing down MPO authority to the ministries and
governors general offices. He said that the budget is the
most important and precise document that is the outcome of
expert studies inline with the 20-Year Outlook Plan. He
stated that the probability of requesting for a budgetary
amendment exists, but that his government is determined to
keep current budgeting within the specified limits. The
President criticized the Joint commission of the Majlis for
increasing budgetary rows from 69 to 270. The President
believes that this development has resulted in government
becoming less responsive. He also stressed that ministers
cannot control those bodies that are accorded budgetary
rows. The Iranian President concluded by stating that the
supervisory role of the Majlis is welcomed by the government
and the government has no intention to interfere with the
role of the legislative branch.
Mir-Tajodini
Mohamadreza Mir-Tajodini, the Second Deputy Speaker of the
Majlis, stated that he agrees with the reduction of rows in
the 1387 Budget Bill. He stated that he does not concur with
Joint Commission in increasing the rows from the original
governmental proposal of 69 rows to 270. This MP explained
that unlike the Joint Commission he does not believe that
having Articles of Association entitles an organization to
budget rows. Regarding another principal argument against
new budgeting formula, Mir-Tajodini stressed his belief that
not only the supervisory role of the Majlis will not be
reduced, but that it will become more specialized. He added
that the government did not eliminate the specific
allocations from various bodies but only removed the rows
allocated to subsidiaries of these holding institutions and
firms, subsequently transparency is not compromised.
Tavakolli
Ahmad Tavakolli, a prominent Member of the Majlis, stated
that the current government should be praised for its
courage in combating the country’s economic problems. He
stated that the government’s persistent efforts resulted in
changing the budgeting style and substantial reduction of
budget rows. Tavakolli who was previously a critic of the
1387Budget Bill, stated that this budget is the most lawful
and transparent between all the ones presented by any
government so far.
Haghshenas
Hadi Haghshenas, a Member of the Majlis, stated the new
style of budgeting will not result in a more responsive
government. Haghshenas stated that the government violated
the Constitution by asking to redefine its relationship with
the Ministry of Petroleum regarding oil revenues.
1387 Budget, Rearranging Priorities
Majlis is currently reviewing the 1387 (March 2008 - 2009)
Budget Bill, which is much less voluminous than the previous
bills. The US$29.5 trillion bill submitted by President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 7 January 2008 is the third to be
presented by the administration since assuming office in
August 2005. Next fiscal year’s budget has grown by 17%
compared with the US$24.8 trillion outlay for 1386 (March
2007 - 2008), while the number of pages has been slashed to
600 this year from last year’s 2,400. A number of
economists and analysts believe that methods of drafting
Iran’s budget system bills are outdated and have called for
a revision. The new bill is not encumbered by the myriad
notes and paragraphs, which rendered the preceding ones
virtually incomprehensible and far from transparent.
Mohammad Hossein Mahdavi-Adeli, an economist, said that
reforming budget writing is a must but the changes should be
made after seeking the views of experts, reviewing previous
budgets and learning from other countries. The academician
saw that deleting notes from next year’s budget bill has
weakened parliament’s supervisory role. The instructor at
Mashhad’s Ferdowsi University stated that although the new
bill would eliminate parliamentary control over the
government, it would help the government have less concerns
in administrating executive affairs. In the next year’s
budget, development funds would increase by 30% to US$2.6
billion of which US$9.7 billion would go to the provinces.
About US$76.3 billion of the total has been envisaged for
the general budget which covers funds for wages, subsidies
and development projects. Rasoul Sedighi-Bonab, a member of
the Majlis Planning, Budget and Audit Commission, said that
the 1387 Budget Bill is expansionary, with increased
dependence on oil revenues. He was critical about the
slashing the number of pages, stating that details of
activities and projects has not been elaborated in resources
and current expenses. It seems the government plans to get
an approval from the Majlis and spend the budget based its
overall needs. This would diminish the role of the State
Audit Organization, the overseeing arm of the Majlis.
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