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$42 billion dollar budget approved
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Azzaman - [2/12/2007]
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Following heated discussions which dragged on for nearly three weeks, Iraqi legislators have approved the 2007 budget.
Legislators battled over every single paragraph in the budget and had to vote on each one of them separately.
The $42 billion budget is said to be the biggest in Iraqi history due to skyrocketing oil revenues.
Although the country’s oil output is still below the pre-war levels, the royalties are expected to be the highest ever due to high oil prices.
Most contentious paragraphs were those related to benefits to senior officials such as the presidency, the cabinet and the legislature.
These articles still remain undecided and parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has said the parliament will have to meet again to have them approved.
Many MPs said the benefits and salaries of senior officials were extremely high and wanted to have them slashed and earmark the difference for social security programs.
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