Damascus-SANA
Today, the People's Assembly held its third session of the seventh regular session of the third legislative session, headed by Hammouda Sabbagh, Speaker of the Assembly.
During the session, Minister of Finance, Dr. Kinan Yaghi, read out the draft law that includes cutting the final account of the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2019, and includes a brief analysis of the results of cutting budget accounts related to final appropriations, total actual current expenditures, their distribution, implementation rates, and the differences between them and the year 2018. Regarding current and investment operations.
Minister Yaghi pointed out that the low rates of spending on investment credits, during the aforementioned year, according to what was reported by the public authorities, is due to the directives of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers at the time to control spending, to wait in implementing investment projects in unsafe areas, the poor economic conditions, and the imposed unilateral coercive measures. On Syria, the inability to implement foreign contracts, the high prices of raw materials, the failure of many tenders due to the lack of bidders, and allocating indicative appropriations for some projects included in the budget.
During their interventions, a number of council members demanded the amendment of Contract System Law No. 51 of 2004, improving the reality of medical services provided in hospitals, especially with regard to the central procurement of medicines, simplifying and facilitating investment process procedures, improving investment spending, and allocating the necessary financial funds accurately to each party according to its needs.
Some members called for finding the appropriate ground for the return of national capitals located abroad, encouraging them to invest inside Syria, and establishing a joint body of finance, real estate interests and municipalities to facilitate the citizens’ completion of their transactions, and to save time and effort for them, wondering: To what stage has the automation of work in the directorates reached? Finance and linking it to the Ministry of Finance?
In his response to the interventions, the Minister of Finance explained that the central procurement of medicines was its main goal to control as much as possible from the issue of corruption in tenders, but it suffered from some problems in the method of exchange and delivery and securing quantities, and this matter was remedied in the following years of 2019, in addition to the problem of applying Some articles of the Contracts Law as a result of exchange rate fluctuations and price differences, noting that a review of this matter was conducted, and a conclusion was reached that there is no need to amend them, but rather to amend their executive instructions.
As for the allocated financial appropriations and the adjustments that occur to them during one year, Minister Yaghi indicated that the adjustments come according to the economic conditions and changes that occur during the year, and that investment spending cannot be at the expense of current spending related to salaries, wages, compensation, health and medical care, and other matters that guarantee The continuation of the work of the institutions.
Subsequently, the Council agreed by a majority to refer the draft law that includes cutting the final account of the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2019 with all the observations made by the members of the Council to the Budget and Accounts Committee for study and preparation of the necessary report on it.
The Council also referred a number of other draft laws to the Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs, and the relevant committees of the Council for discussion and preparation of the necessary reports on them.
The session, which was attended by the Minister of State for People's Assembly Affairs Abdullah Abdullah, was adjourned to 11 am tomorrow, Wednesday.
Louay Hosamou and Waseem El-Adawy
