ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s parliament has formed a three-member committee representing the country’s main ethnic and sectarian components - Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis - to follow up on preparations for the 2027 federal budget bill and coordinate with the government.
Jamal Kochar, a Kurdish member of parliament’s finance committee, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir on Monday that the committee, which includes him, was established to “stay informed on the details of the budget preparation.”
The committee is also tasked with helping fellow lawmakers understand a new budgeting system that Iraq plans to introduce for the first time.
“The formation of this committee was requested by Falah al-Sari, the Iraqi finance minister to ensure we are aware of the new budget format, which is based on programs and results,” said Kochar, a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).
The committee, which will work closely with Sari’s ministry, also includes Ahmed al-Jabri from the Sunni Takadum (Progress) bloc and Nasir Yasir Turki from the Shiite Reconstruction and Development Coalition.
The three lawmakers held their first meeting with the federal finance minister on Thursday.
Kochar said federal ministries are currently providing the finance ministry with the data needed to draft the budget. The data “includes the number of employees, their expenditures, and other details.”
For the first time, Iraq plans to introduce a program-and-performance-based budgeting system. Under the new approach, expenditures will be organized by sectors rather than solely by ministries, with funding linked to specific results to be achieved within set timeframes.
The new system is expected to be introduced initially in two ministries and two provinces before potentially being expanded more broadly.
The 2027 budget bill is scheduled to be submitted to parliament by the end of November.
