Federal budget returned to govt. for amendments

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The parliamentary financial committee has returned the 2010 federal budget to the Iraqi government to make amendments to it, the committee’s head said on Tuesday. “Yesterday, the Parliament passed its budget and the budget of the Supreme Judicial Council, resulting in changes to some figures in the federal budget,” Alaa al-Sadoun told IraqiNews.com news agency. The budget allocated for the Supreme Judicial Council has been cut by $2 billion U.S. dollars, while the Parliament’s budget has been upped by $8 billion due to an increase in the number of lawmakers in the next parliament, scheduled to be formed following the upcoming elections on March 7. On October 13, 2009 the Iraqi cabinet approved an ID83 trillion federal budget for the year 2010, including an ID5.3 trillion supplementary budget. The budget, based on an oil price of $60 a barrel, was sent to the parliament for approval. SS (P) 2