Parliament Approves National Budget for Fiscal Year 2019

The Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of the Parliament) on Monday approved the national budget for the fiscal year 2019 with a total outlay of 399 billion Afghanis.

The budget plan for the solar year 1398 includes 124 billion Afghanis for development in various sectors including information technology, agriculture, transit routes, and power generation.

The national budget for 2019 raised up to 99 billion Afghanis from a total of 377 billion Afghans in previous year.

Though the Lower House unanimously approved the 2019 national budget today, some lawmakers criticized the government over what they said failure to maintain a balance for spending the development budget.

“The share of Kochi sect is less in the budget and major projects have been considered based on favoritism in some provinces,” said MP Habib Afghan, representing Kochi people in Wolesi Jirga.

However, Mohammad Azim Mohseni, head of parliament’s budget commission said that necessary reforms have been brought into the coming year’s national budget so that issues in the development projects could be solved.

According to the Finance Ministry, from a total of 399 billion Afghanis national budget proposal, half of them will be paid for by the domestic revenue.