Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s external debt due for repayment amounts to roughly $20B, half of which matures by 2028, a senior official said on Tuesday, amid warnings of a bleak outlook for the economy.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s financial and economic advisor, Mudhir Saleh, told Shafaq News that these debts have fixed annual repayment allocations in the federal budget, adding that Iraq has never defaulted on payments due to coordination between the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI).

He noted that domestic public debt, which stands at more than 92T dinars (about $65B), is held entirely by the state banking system, with less than half managed through the CBI’s investment portfolio.

“There is no cause for concern,” Saleh stated, citing repayment mechanisms under discussion. He pointed out that the government is pursuing fiscal and monetary policies to reduce domestic debt, including channeling real assets into a national fund for reinvestment.

The current model, he added, aims to convert debt into investment entitlements in productive projects, stimulating real economic activity while ensuring repayment.

According to official CBI data, Iraq’s overall debt stood at $54.6B in 2024, down 2.9% from $56.2B in 2023.