KABUL, lower house, members.
The national assembly refused to endorse the proposed accounts due to uneven allocations to provinces and a hefty $80 million (3.9 billion afghanis) bailout package for the ailing Kabul Bank.
Of the 126 lawmakers who attended the lower house session, only one raised the green card for the budget approval. The multi-million dollars package for Kabul Bank came under fire from lawmakers.
Kabul Bank, which faced a major financial crunch last year after giving out $910 million in loans and due to poor management, was put under the government-run Da Afghanistan Bank’s control and later renamed as New Kabul Bank.
Najibullah Manalai, an advisor to the ministry, said the budget had been prepared while keeping in mind the financial resources of the government. He added implementing major development projects in all provinces was impossible.
The Ministry of Finance has set aside 500 million afs for the private banks that would pay salaries to government employees. Parliamentarians said the allocation was another reason behind their rejection of the budget.
Manalai assured that the ministry would bring amendments to the budget before resending it to the house on Saturday. The normal budget for the first nine months of the Afghan year is 134.3 billion afs and development budget 110 billion afs.
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