Baghdad – WAA
The Parliamentary Finance Committee announced, today, Monday, discussing the proposal to establish a sovereign fund.
The media department of the Council of Representatives stated, in a statement received by the (INA), that “the head of the Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, chaired a deliberative meeting of the committee, in the presence of a number of its members, to discuss a number of important topics and files.”
The statement added that “the meeting reviewed the outcomes and indicators of previous meetings with government agencies regarding maximizing non-oil revenues, where it was agreed on the next steps by submitting a detailed report to the government on the shortcomings, especially in the electricity, tax, customs and other major financial outlets sectors.”
The statement continued, “The committee discussed a number of proposals that would maximize financial revenues, including the enactment of special laws on taxation, in addition to forming a committee to conform to standards, which would review the estimation of planned revenues for state institutions.”
The statement continued, “The committee discussed the proposal of the possibility of establishing a (sovereign fund) similar to rentier states, in order to confront fluctuations in global oil prices or any financial crisis, provided that the fund is financed from the budget surplus achieved in times of economic and financial prosperity.”
The statement concluded, “The meeting also discussed the laws referred to the Finance Committee as a supporting committee, where Al-Atwani stressed that the committee will have an opinion and a fundamental role in legislating these laws, especially those related to economic reform and others.”