Wolesi Jirga rejects draft amendment to budget plan

KABUL’s budget plan regarding dealing with the coronavirus, citing lack of transparency in spending of international aid on the pandemic.

Finance and Budget Commission of Wolesi Jirga presented the draft amendment in the budget plan to the house’s general session today.

Sayed Azim Kabarzani, secretary of the commission, said that the amendment had been discussed thoroughly in several meetings and needed no more discussions.

Munawar Shah Bahaduri, a lawmaker from Herat province said, “Where the money assisted by the international community is spent, why should we transfer the budget of projects to controlling coronavirus, approval of the amendment is a persecution of the nation and we should not let treasury money to be embezzled.”

A number of other members of the house held similar views and asked for rejection of the change.

The draft amendment plan was then put for voting, but a majority of lawmakers rejected it.

Kabarzani told media after the house’s session that the government had decided to amend the budget plan due to quarantines and closure of the country borders for controlling the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the amendment included creation of 16,000 cold houses for storing agricultural productions which cost eight billion afghanis, five billion afs were set aside for the Operation Department of the Presidential Palace, around six billion Afghanis considered for distribution of bread to needy people.

The budget already faced a 12 billion afghanis deficit when it was first approved in the beginning of 1399 fiscal year and the deficit now stood at 48 billion afghanis, he said.

Afghanistan fiscal year starts December 22

Kabarzani added that the Afghan government wanted to fill the 12 million deficit  by taking 17 billion afghanis laon from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was also approved by a joint delegation of the parliament.

The parliament approved the draft loan plan last Saturday.

Declined domestic revenue is the only reason of budget shortage as 208 billion afghanis were considered for the current 1399 budget plan, but 175 billion afghanis were collected from domestic revenue.

mds/ma