Baghdad, Jun 9 (IANS): The Iraqi parliament has passed a bill that allows the government to use public funds to meet urgent needs for food, public services and development in emergency cases.

The bill was passed by the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

A statement of parliament on Wednesday said this bill will give the government the power to allocate 25 trillion Iraqi dinars ($17.14 billion), enabling the government "to achieve food security, alleviate poverty".

"The bill also aims to create job opportunities, maximise Iraqis' benefit from state resources, give impetus to the country's development, resume work on stalled and lagging projects due to lack of funding, and start new projects of importance," the statement added.

Iraq is in a political deadlock as elections eight months ago have failed to produce a new President or Prime Minister, forcing the caretaker government to run without an annual budget.

The law will go into effect immediately and remain in effect until a national budget is approved.