The People Are Waiting: The General Budget 2019 — Part Three (A)

-        The Palestinian general budget for 2019 has still not been announced as approved by the government, nor submitted to any body for discussion... The Legislative Council was dissolved by a decision of the Constitutional Court.. a few days ago.. and therefore the draft Public Budget Law for 2019 will be submitted to the Presidency Office for approval by the President.. as was done in previous years ... a matter that has not yet been announced despite the Basic Law's provision that the draft Public Budget Law must be presented to the Legislative Council two months before the start of the new year.. and this is what most budget laws in the majority of countries around the world stipulate. In some cases, if the issuance of the general budget for the new year is delayed for more than the first three months of that year, the parliament in those countries dismisses the government on the day following the end of the three-month period of that year....!

-        Budgets for most of the countries surrounding Palestine have been approved, such as Israel and Jordan.. as for other Arab countries, most of them have issued their general budgets for 2019 or at least their governments have approved them and submitted them to their national parliaments for approval after debate, such as.. Tunisia, Sudan, Qatar, Egypt, Iraq.. etc., for example, the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expects a deficit in its general budget for 2019 of $34 billion, while Iraq expected a deficit of $20 billion in its general budget for 2019.. its total budget for 2019 amounted to $107 billion, and the budget was presented to the Iraqi parliament with an expectation of delayed approval due to disputes over the Kurdistan Region’s share of Iraq’s general budget where it demands its usual share of 17%, while some parliamentarians believe their share should not exceed 12.7%, as well as the southern provinces – Basra – which demand an additional share greater than that of other provinces because they are the main oil producers.... and also the necessity for them to obtain privileges – a "pollution allowance" – etc.

-        As for Jordan, the Jordanian general budget for 2019 was approved by the House of Representatives on 3-1-2019, after being approved by the Council of Ministers on 28-11-2018, with expenditures approaching $13 billion, and an expected deficit of $910 million.. and a government debt volume reaching about $40 billion. Approximately.. as the ratio of this debt reached 94% of GDP in Jordan... and this ratio warns of great difficulties facing the Jordanian economy burdened by external and domestic debts and their interest, in the face of the challenge of finding domestic and foreign financial resources given the high levels of public government debt and servicing this debt, rising borrowing costs, and the sensitivity of any restructuring of taxes or public expenditures.... The unemployment rate in Jordan reached 18.5%, and Amman ranks 6th among Arab capitals in cost of living, as studies indicate.. and it reached 59th globally in cost of living as stated in international statistical references.
- As for Israel, in a report by Al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations – Beirut, on Israel's general budget for 2019.. the Knesset approved on 14-3-2018 the 2019 budget early, in the second and third readings, with a budget volume estimated at $137 billion, an increase over the 2018 budget by 4.3%... and conditional expenditures tied to revenues were estimated at $11.7 billion with an estimated growth of 3.1%.. The 2019 budget was considered the first budget in Israel to be dominated by a social character,

-        this budget focused noticeably on social aspects such as the education budget, which was higher than the Ministry of Defense and amounted to $16.9 billion, and the budget, as one minister said, reflected the social values and the national priority order in Israel, as public budgets appeared in the field of education estimated at $16.9 billion (which is the first rank in the budget..)... and national insurance at $12.6 billion, health at $10.6 billion... and social affairs.. and this is considered the first budget in which the general budget is a budget specifically for education, followed by security (defense). The security budget is 18% of the general budget – a budget of $14 billion (before allocations and other programs that bring the defense budget for 2019 to $24.7 billion). As for the settlements in the West Bank they received in the 2019 budget an amount of $57 million after one of the settlement leaders, during the discussion of the budget framework in the government, camped in a room adjacent to the Prime Minister until the early hours to ensure the inclusion of the amount in the budget.. and that happened..

-        Most Arab countries' budgets do not focus on the social character of their budgets as happens in Israel, which focuses on education, health, social and welfare aspects... for their society and their spending priorities.. rather, Arab countries' budgets are dominated by a security and military spending character, and a consumption character.. Ministries such as Education, Health and Social Affairs do not receive care or allocations except less than the allocations of other ministries, for example, the budgets of the Ministries of Education, Health and Social Affairs in Palestine together accounted for 37% of the Palestinian general budget for 2018, while the Interior Ministry's share was 26%!!
- We will discuss the figures of the Palestinian general budget for 2019 once obtained in a later post.. to also compare the actual data for 2018 with the general budget for 2018, then the general budget for 2019 and its economic indicators, public government debt, deficit of the budget and repayment methods

-        Date: 4-1-2019