Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s next government will face financial obligations exceeding 150 trillion dinars (about $105.2B) alongside $10 billion in external debt, a senior official told Shafaq News on Saturday.

According to Moeen Al-Kadhimi, a former member of the parliamentary Finance Committee, the government requires around 125 trillion dinars (about $87.6B) annually to cover salaries and general expenditures, in addition to about 25 trillion dinars (about $17.5B) to meet obligations to oil extraction companies and complete investment projects across ministries and provinces.

He said that the outgoing government’s domestic debt to banks has reached 90 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $63.1B), warning that the next cabinet must address the burden and halt continued borrowing from state-owned banks.

“There are currently no plans to seek loans from neighboring or regional countries,” he noted, adding that borrowing is limited to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support development projects, infrastructure, and the sanitation sector.

Read more Cash outside banks, debt on the rise: Iraq’s fiscal challenge