Latest news with #MudharSaleh
Zawya
23-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Iraq plans domestic borrowing to bridge $49bln deficit
Iraq intends to borrow again from the local financial market this year to bridge an expected budget deficit of 64 trillion Iraqi dinars ($49 billion), a government advisor said on Wednesday. OPEC's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia has projected an average oil price of $70 a barrel in its landmark three-year budget for fiscal 2023-2025 years. But the Arab nation sold its crude for nearly $75 in the first quarter of 2025 before prices plunged below the budgeted level due to the rising spectre of a global trade war and a recent decision by OPEC Plus to lift supplies by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) for June. 'The government will adopt flexibility in the 2025 budget…this means that it will try to control expenditure,' said Mudhar Saleh, a financial advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani. Saleh told Iraq's Al-Forat TV that priority in spending this year would be given to salaries to civil servants, pensions and social care, which affects 8 million Iraqis. 'The 2025 budget envisages a deficit of IQD 64 trillion while spending was forecast at IQD 200 trillion ($153 billion)…the Finance Ministry will resort to borrowing whenever needed to cover the deficit,' he said. In June 2023, Iraq approved a three-year budget for the period 2023-2025 based on an average oil price of $70 a barrel and crude exports of 3.4 million bpd. Iraq's parliament has yet to pass the 2025 budget as it has not been sent by the cabinet apparently for fears funds may be used in campaigns for parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for November. 'A key reason for the delay in sending the draft budget for 2025 to parliament is that the government does not want funds to be exploited in election propagandas,' parliament's finance committee member Jamal Kocher said last month. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
Zawya
22-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Iraqi official proposes joint funds with GCC
An adviser to Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani is proposing the creation of joint sovereign funds with Gulf oil producers to finance domestic projects. Mudhar Saleh, a financial advisor to Sudani, said such ambitious initiatives require intensive talks with the countries which possess massive sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Quoted by Iraq's Al-Forat news agency on Monday, Saleh said these funds aim to support major projects at the regional levels, noting that there is a tendency in the region to expand the scope of financial and economic cooperation. 'Like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, which possess huge SWFs to diversify their economies, Iraq also possess vast resources which need to be invested through strong partnerships with the aim of funding infrastructure, energy and industrial projects…these initiatives will help re-direct financial surpluses to the Arab region in an effective manner,' Saleh said. 'This strategy requires in-depth Gulf-Iraq dialogue for joint investment and the creation of a multilateral sovereign wealth fund that represents a new model for investment cooperation between Iraq and Gulf countries with financial surpluses.' Iraq, OPEC's second largest oil producer, does not have a SWF apart from dinar-denominated national funds as the Pension and Social Security Funds, the Education Fund and the Development Fund. In a recent study, the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) said regional states need to take steps to face the planned increase in US tariffs on in imports despite the exemption of their oil exports. These steps include strengthening fiscal buffers and resilient financing strategies to address vulnerabilities to trade shocks as low oil prices will adversely impact the oil-exporting countries, increasing the risk of fiscal vulnerabilities, it said. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
