Iraq budget deficit tops $20B through July 2026
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's budget deficit reached 26.329 trillion dinars ($20.16B) in the first seven months of 2026 as government spending far outpaced revenues, with oil still providing nearly four-fifths of the state's income, Finance Ministry data showed on Sunday.
The government collected about 39.096 trillion dinars ($29.94B) through the end of July, while spending reached 65.424 trillion dinars ($50.10B).
Oil remained the main source of state income, generating about 30.356 trillion dinars ($23.25B), or 78% of total revenues. Non-oil revenues brought in another 8.740 trillion dinars ($6.69B), accounting for about 22%.
Salaries accounted for the largest share of current spending, with employee compensation reaching 35.875 trillion dinars ($27.47B) through July. Social welfare spending followed at 15.989 trillion dinars ($12.24B), while grants, subsidies, interest payments and other expenditures totaled 5.096 trillion dinars ($3.90B).
The government spent another 1.939 trillion dinars ($1.48B) on goods and supplies, while spending on services and supplies reached 139.3 billion dinars ($106.67M). Maintenance of state assets accounted for 41.4 billion dinars ($31.70M).
Debt servicing totaled 6.239 trillion dinars ($4.78B) through the end of July, according to the budget execution data.
Economist Nabil al-Marsoumi put combined spending on salaries and social welfare at 51 trillion dinars ($39.05B) during the first seven months of the year, compared with total government revenues of 39 trillion dinars ($29.86B).
Those revenues covered about 76% of spending on salaries and social welfare, al-Marsoumi noted, putting the effective gap between the two at about 29 trillion dinars ($22.21B).
