Iraq forms commission to shift to performance-based budgeting

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi Prime Minister's financial adviser Mazhar Mohammed Salih announced the formation of a commission tasked with preparing the country for a transition to performance and program-based budgeting. He described program budgeting as a modern public finance method that prioritizes the evaluation of expenditures rather than individual line items. Salih said the line-item budget would remain the foundation of Iraq's fiscal system, but program budgeting would become an integral part of it, with spending tied to specific programs and their results assessed separately. He cited the government's poverty-combating program, which involves multiple ministries, as an example of how targets would be measured within set timeframes. The adviser also disclosed that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research had been advised to expand cost-accounting departments, but the results so far had fallen short. He stressed that the transition requires central political will, Cabinet support, institutional experience, and a new generation of accountants and administrators. Noting regional precedents, Salih said Egypt spent ten years on a similar transition, while Jordan merged its former line-item budget with a program-based approach. He did not provide a timeline for Iraq's own shift.