The People's Assembly refers the 2023 budget bill to the Budget and Accounts Committee for discussion

Damascus-SANA

The People’s Assembly, in its session held today, headed by Speaker Hammouda Sabbagh, agreed to refer the state’s general budget bill for the fiscal year 2023 with the government’s financial statement on the project and the observations made by members of the Council regarding it to the Budget and Accounts Committee for discussion and preparation of the necessary report on it.

During the session, the members of the Council continued discussing the project and the government financial statement about it, as they questioned the extent to which public sector companies contribute to the domestic product, the total revenues, the volume of advances granted to Syria for trade, and the reason for requesting financial credits for the successful candidates in the central competition. Not to increase the deficit and to provide clear performance indicators on the budget implementation rates and direct the bulk of the budget to the productive sector, not the administrative sector.

The members renewed their call for an increase in salaries and wages in proportion to inflation and high prices, the total exemption of salaries from income tax and the opening of their ceilings, increasing incentives, amending the cost of living clause for retirees, giving the agriculture, education, industry and electricity sectors greater importance in the budget, and limiting speculation on the lira. Syria, and support the actual producers of farmers and workers because they are the basis of steadfastness.

The members called for increasing the influence of government institutions in the markets, focusing on fees and indirect taxes, expediting the issuance of the new customs law and tax legislation, achieving tax justice, and researching the causes of the loss of public sector companies and holding those responsible to account.

In his response to the observations and questions of the members of the Council with regard to the increase in salaries and wages, Minister of Finance, Dr. Kinan Yaghi, explained that inflation created a gap between the real income of state workers and the standard of living, indicating that work is being done to improve the level of income by directing any increase in government revenues towards increases. Or financial grants, and this is what was done in the years 2021 and 2022.

Minister Yaghi pointed to the importance of the incentive system that was recently issued in terms of improving the living conditions of a large segment of state workers, especially the highly profitable economic sector, where the worker became a partner in profit rates.

The Minister of Finance indicated that the draft budget law 2023 is one of the most difficult projects prepared by the ministry due to the lack of change in economic conditions, the lack of development of the state's public revenues, the presence of high inflation rates in the markets, and the development of public expenditures significantly, indicating that the project focused on seeking to provide Services and goods are at least of the same quality as they were provided last year, and the minimum possible current spending was set, while investment spending was increased by 50 percent compared to last year, taking into account that the financial deficit is under control, and taking into account the restrictions on available revenues and their distribution according to For correct economic ratios to the national economy.

Minister Yaghi pointed out that there was an increase in all investment revenues last year, with the exception of the extractive industry, which is linked to the production plans of the Ministry of Oil. Therefore, the estimates in the draft budget were re-evaluated in a more reasonable manner, which affected the size of economic surpluses in the extractive industries sector, and led to a decline in its investment revenues. in numbers.

With regard to the request to increase the budgets of the ministries of agriculture, industry and electricity, Minister Yaghi confirmed that during the discussion of the draft budget with these ministries, there was no ceiling for their investment budgets within the limits of the projects to be implemented, and this was approved in cooperation with the Planning and International Cooperation Authority and approved by the Supreme Council for Economic Planning And the social worker, indicating that the rate of increases in the budgets of these ministries is several times higher than the budget growth rate, which is set at 24 percent.

The Minister of Finance pointed out that the customs duties estimated in the draft general budget, including fines, do not exceed 5% of the state's general revenues, while the volume of indirect taxes equals 22% of the total revenues, and the rest is miscellaneous revenues belonging to direct taxes, state property and others, indicating that taxes on Salaries and wages in the public and private sectors are equivalent to only 1.7 percent of total gross revenues.

Minister Yaghi confirmed that the demand of a number of council members will be transferred to transferring the value of the subsidy to a cash allowance for the Council of Ministers to study it, and that there are ongoing governmental meetings and procedures to control the exchange rate, noting that expanding the tax base as stated in the project means targeting tax evaders and the tax registration is not registered. And that the source of figures and growth rates in the project is the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Planning and International Cooperation Authority.

At the end of the session, the Speaker of the Council called on the Budget and Accounts Committee to prepare a timetable for the committee’s meetings with representatives of the ministries and relevant public authorities in order to discuss the budget of each ministry or entity separately.

The session, which was attended by Minister of State for People's Assembly Affairs Abdullah Abdullah, was adjourned to 12 noon tomorrow, Tuesday.

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