Iraqi ministers' performance questioned
Baghdad claims improvements; the GAO claims otherwise.
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Erbil, 19 March 2008 (Kurdish Globe)
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Two relevant reports show different information on the Iraqi government's expenditure of its money.
The Iraqi government spent a humble sum not exceeding 7% of its $10.1 billion 2007 budget allocated for capital projects and reconstruction till November 2007, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), presented to U.S. Congress on March 11.
The report, presented by the U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, also contended that "despite the United States' investment of about $6 billion to rebuild Iraq's oil and electricity sectors, production in both sectors has consistently fallen below U.S. program goals of 3 million barrels per day and 6,000 megawatts of electrical peak generation capacity."
The U.S. auditors are eyeing the Iraqi government's expenditure rate of its own oil revenues, which soared this year and brought the country a budget surplus. In addition, this comes as the U.S. continues to invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Iraq and internally faces a financial squeeze because of oil prices.
Research on the weak performance of the Iraqi government in 2007 is not only being rejected in Baghdad, but they are also assuring that there have been improvements in projects compared to the previous few years.
Two of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's advisors for economic affairs published a report showing improvement in the rate of the executed investment project at the Iraqi ministries.
Al-Maliki's advisors, Kamal Al-Basri and Faruq Abdul-Qader, say in their report published early this month that "the rate of executing investment projects at the Iraqi ministries including Kurdistan Region have reached 68%, while the rate of the executed investment projects at the Iraqi governorates reached 74%," depending on figures by the Iraqi Finance Ministry.
The Kurdistan Regional Government's ministries were able to carry out 100% of their allocated budget for reconstruction, according to information announced by the Iraqi Finance Ministry; the budget for Kurdistan Region makes 17% of the country's general budget, and it come from Baghdad as well.
Meanwhile, the ministries operated by Kurds in Baghdad, such as Industry, Municipality, and Water Resources, were able to use 93-100% of their reconstruction allocation.
Fazil Nabi, Deputy Minister of Iraqi Finance, said that 40% of the $50 billion of oil income within the budget 2008 would be allocated for reconstruction projects. Kurdistan Region gains 17% of this sum. The Iraqi official also said that the unspent reconstruction budgets in 2007 would be allowed to the requiring ministries in this year.
Back to the GAO report, it-like previous reports made by U.S. officials-lacks proper views on Kurdistan Region in particular.
In a statement to Radio Sawa on Friday, al-Basri replied about the contradictions between his report and the GAO report, saying that the Iraqi government "easily can defend its figures."
Despite the contradictions in the statistics, both reports noticed weak points of government performance.
The GAO report counts several challenges facing the Iraqi ministries that pose a risk to their success and long-term sustainability. First, the Iraqi ministries lack personnel with key skills, such as budgeting and procurement. Second, sectarian influence over ministry leadership and staff complicated efforts to build a professional and nonaligned civil service. Third, pervasive corruption in the Iraqi ministries impeded effectiveness of U.S. efforts. Fourth, security conditions exist that limit U.S. advisors' access to their Iraqi counterparts.
As for the Iraqi government report, it counts factors that negatively influenced the percentage rate of the executing of projects. The factors include absence of security and law sovereignty; absence of a positive investment condition that hinders transporting; work requirements; and contracting with contractors of high quality. The report also pointed to the absence of complete inspection and supervision on projects.
