Wolesi Jirga rejects second draft of the annual budget

KABUL (SW) – The Wolesi Jirga (lower house) rejected the second draft of the national budget for fiscal year 2021, which was sent for the second time by the Ministry of Finance for approval.

Mir Rahman Rahmani, speaker of the house, said during the session that the government has not only not corrected the 17 violations identified in the first draft, but has also added two new violations to the second draft budget. According to the speaker of the house, the second draft of the budget does not address the issue of equalization of salaries of government employees.

The imbalance in salaries, the inclusion of the ‘National Food Program’ in the budget document, loans and the allocation of large budgets to some departments are among the other reasons cited by the house for rejecting the second draft, said a report by the house’s Finance and Budget Committee.

After the vote on the draft, it was announced that 120 delegates voted against and 15 MPs voted in favor of the second draft of the national budget for the fiscal year 2021. In the second draft budget, the amount has been increased by 20 million afghanis to a grand total of 473 billion. Of this, 311 billion afghanis are considered for expenditures and over 161 billion afghanis for development purposes.

Last month, the Ministry of Finance presented the first draft of the national budget for the fiscal year 2021 to the Wolesi Jirga, which got rejected.

ENDS

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