Parliament shifts 2026 budget to next government
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Work on Iraq’s 2026 federal budget has not yet begun, Parliamentary Finance Committee member Moeen al-Kadhimi said on Tuesday, dismissing reports that the Finance Ministry has already started preparations as “unrealistic.”
With the current term of PM Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani’s government nearing its end, and national elections approaching, Al-Kadhimi deemed it unlikely that the cabinet would undertake the drafting of the new budget law.
He explained that the task will fall to the next government, which will prepare the 2026 budget according to its own economic priorities, factoring in both oil and non-oil revenues as well as actual expenditures.
“The incoming government will be the one to submit the 2026 budget bill to the newly elected parliament for approval,” al-Kadhimi said.
Although Iraq approved a three-year federal budget for 2023–2025, which remains heavily dependent on oil revenues, the government has repeatedly faced delays in submitting the detailed annual tables required for each fiscal year. The 2025 allocations remained pending months into the year, sparking legal and political disputes in parliament.
Read more: Recession alert: 2025 budget deadlock threatens Iraq
