Eco
The Prime Minister, Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, directed the Ministry of Finance today, Saturday, to release the salaries of employees and social protection on time.
A statement from his office received stated that "Al-Zaidi made a visit to the Ministry of Finance, as part of his follow-up on the work of ministries and their executive, service, and economic programs."
Al-Zaidi chaired "a meeting of the advanced cadre at the ministry and listened to reports concerning the work of the ministry in all its sectors, emphasizing that Iraq is passing through a sensitive financial and economic circumstance imposed by regional and international developments and their repercussions on the global economy."
Al-Zaidi pointed out that "these variables affected Iraq's export capacity and its oil revenues, indicating that 90% of the budget depends on oil revenues, and work must be done to expand the non-oil economy, and adopt alternatives supporting diversification, pointing out the necessity of being frank with citizens regarding financial challenges, without exaggeration or beautification."
He continued: "We want the Ministry of Finance to draw the financial policy for Iraq, while we are preparing the Iraq 2035 plan, and the ministry must have a clear vision and the budget must be a map for the future."
He pointed out that "the budget must maximize its resources, and it is impossible to continue relying on oil only, noting that 'Iraq is a meeting point for the world and we must invest its geographical location to enhance its revenues.'"
He completed that "employees' salaries must be released on time, so that there is no message of anxiety to the people, as well as the salaries of the social protection network," directing "the preparation of a batch of dues for farmers, and dues for contractors and investors, and their rights must not be delayed to ensure the continuation of work."
He explained that "there is a concept that the state is the one managing the economy, but we want the economy to be the one managing the state, and if the change in concepts is achieved, we will not have to change people," pointing out that "the state is not just a budget and allocations, but rather seeks to achieve a high gross domestic product."
He showed that "there are governing and operational expenditures that do not reflect positively on development, so we seek to change traditional financial concepts, and we do not want to copy yesterday's experiences, and the state's role is regulation and oversight, and we support the private sector as it will boost development."
He added saying: "Our duty is to take care of the poor segments, but the socialist mentality in the economy must not continue to operate, directing the preparation of a report on customs status in terms of revenues during the last six months, especially high-customs materials."
He continued: "We noticed that high-customs materials are being replaced with cheaper materials and in devious ways, and automation will end this manipulation, and we have 5000 doctors contracted with the Ministry of Health, we directed to resolve their situations."
He concluded his speech: "We issued a circular not to put up pictures of the Prime Minister and ministers in all departments and institutions, we want people to see our actions, not our pictures."
