Iraq shifts focus to 2027 budget as time runs out for 2026 draft, lawmaker says

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's government has effectively abandoned efforts to draft a 2026 federal budget and is now concentrating on the 2027 spending plan, a member of parliament's Finance Committee said. Hussein al-Darraji said the remaining months of the year are insufficient to prepare and submit a 2026 budget, and the cabinet is instead expected to deliver a 2027 draft to parliament in October or November. Al-Darraji said the 2027 budget will differ substantially from previous ones in both preparation method and expenditure tables. Government salaries and essential operating costs are currently being financed on a temporary monthly basis at a 1/12 ratio under the Financial Management Law, which draws on the previous three-year budget framework. The committee member said parliament and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaydi's government have agreed to channel technical work toward the 2027 budget under a new economic approach. A draft 2026 budget had been outlined by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's cabinet before it left office, but the plan was shelved during the election period and caretaker government. The fiscal gap widened after al-Zaydi won a confidence vote on May 14 with only 14 ministers for 23 ministries, leaving key portfolios including interior, defense and planning vacant amid political disputes that were not filled until July. No further details on the 2027 budget timetable were immediately available.