The Ministry of Finance has not resubmitted a reviewed version of the draft budget plan to the parliament despite being 20 days already into the current fiscal year.  

The parliament rejected this fiscal year's budget plan on December 30, citing “serious problems.”  

The exclusion of 1,131 provincial projects, the allocation of Afs13 billion ($166 million) for the emergency code (an emergency budgetary unit) and the allocation of Afs2 billion ($25.5 million) to the government's Code 91 and 92--also emergency funds--were reasons for concern raised by lawmakers. 

The draft is expected to be sent to the cabinet meeting for approval and then it will be sent to the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Parliament, for approval. 

Some lawmakers said that they will not approve the budget plan if the excluded projects are not added to it. 
“There are crucial projects for villages and have been recommended by lawmakers for their people. We expect the government to add them to the budget plan,” said Kamal Safi, an MP. 

“If each lawmaker gets 2,000 projects, there are 250 lawmakers. Even the United States budget will not be enough in that case. Someone has wrongly reported this to Mr. President. The lawmakers want the projects for the people,” said Abdul Rauf Shpoon, an MP.  
Analysts said that the rift between the government and the parliament will not benefit the people and it will delay the implementation of projects. 

“This is not the first time that the budget document approval is delayed. Both the executive and the legislative pillars have responsibilities in this respect. Last year’s budget had some shortcomings,” said Abdul Wase, an analyst.

The Finance Ministry said that the processing of the budget has not had progress so far. 

The budget for the fiscal year 1400 (2021) that was submitted to the parliament by the government estimated a total of Afs452 billion ($5.8 billion) for this fiscal year.