Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq is reviewing the performance of several state-owned banks and financial institutions as the government struggles with a cash crunch and delayed public-sector salaries, an informed source said Wednesday.

The reviews are examining alleged misuse of public funds, falling liquidity, and misleading reports submitted by some bank managers to senior officials, according to the source, who spoke to Shafaq News on condition of anonymity.

Government bodies are assessing how the banks are run, alongside management changes and recently launched investigations into cases said to have caused losses of public money and enabled corruption. Investigators are also examining why cash reserves once held at state banks have fallen, the source said, in preparation for legal and administrative measures.

The assessments weigh how far each management can support the government through the current strain, the source said, and how far each institution has moved toward digital systems. Continued reliance on paper procedures rather than electronic ones is among the concerns drawing official attention.

Some managers have submitted figures and reports that do not reflect actual operations, the source said, adding that field monitoring has exposed a wide gap between official reporting and performance on the ground. That gap is itself under review.

The measures are part of a broader government effort to reassess how state financial institutions perform and to strengthen efficiency, governance, and digital systems, the source said, given the financial pressure and the delay in paying salaries.

The review comes after a separate informed source told Shafaq News on Tuesday that state salaries could be delayed until the end of this month or early next month because funding for ministries and state bodies had not yet been released. Salaries are funded and paid out to state institutions sequentially, a process that takes several days. Several state banks are low on cash after their reserves fell, limiting their ability to fund state bodies or borrow domestically.

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