Bill on general state budget referred to budget and accounts committee

During a session held on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of its Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Abrash, People's Assembly on Tuesday continued to discuss a bill on general state budget for the fiscal year 2012. The interpositions of the MPs focused on the underway projects and those which have top priority, in addition to the reasons behind presenting the budget in a new way and the effect of this procedure on the economic and financial domains. They stressed the importance of allowing the Budget and Accounts Committee at the Assembly to precisely study the budget with the possibility of reviewing some numbers. The MPs wondered about the measures that can be taken to cover the deficit in the budget in 2012 and to reconsider tax system to be more just, in addition to the possibility of supporting the Agricultural Production Fund and increasing the investment expenditure. They underlined the importance of achieving more steps in the reform process, hailing the decisions made by the Government with regard to certain issues of interest to the citizens. They also stressed the importance of focusing on the priorities, calling for translating the reforms, laws and legislations on the ground with transparency t, in addition to focusing on developing the eastern region and the Badia (semi-desert), improving the agricultural reality and providing support to the poor families and studying the effective mechanisms for providing it. They called for improving the work of the Ministry of Industry, and for starting the implantation of the projects of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Communication and Technology, in addition to combating unemployment. Minister of Finance Mohammad al-Jleilati answered the questions of the MPs and proposed a presentation on some issues, indicating that the general state budget for the fiscal year 2011 gave a priority to the investment projects based on the plans of the ministries as they were discussed in details at the Planning Higher Council. He indicated that the 11th five-year plan depended on reclassifying the investment projects according to their priority. Later, the Assembly referred the Government's financial statement on the draft general state budget for 2012 to the Budget and Accounts Committee to study it and to prepare the required report about it. The approbations of the budget hit SYP 1326.5 billion in comparison with SYP 835 billion in 2010.