Minister Allawi: Iraq is near the yellow light

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Minister of Finance said that the internal and external debt amount to 80% of the Gross National Product, indicating that the country is almost entering the stage of "yellow light".

"An upside of our external debt is that it goes to governmental or international institutions, it is long-term, at a relatively good interest."

"The external debts amount to 50 billion dollars. They increase and decrease according to repayment, except for bonds valued at approximately 3 billion dollars, of which one billion dollars will be repaid after three months."

"The other debts are linked to the restructuring of Iraq's previous debts with the so-called Paris Club," he added, "We will soon reach the last stages of repaying these debts."

The Paris Club is a group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find collaborative and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries. As debtor countries undertake reforms to stabilize and restore their macroeconomic and financial situation, Paris Club creditors provide an appropriate debt treatment.

Countries affiliated with the Paris Club decided in 2004 to write off 80% of the debts owed by Iraq since the nineties of the last century.

"The internal debt amounts to 75 trillion dinars," Minister Allawi noted, "last year, internal debts surged as a result of the collapse of oil prices and the need to borrow to fill the deficit in salaries and the budget."

"The size of the external and internal debts is still credible. It amounts to 80% of the Gross National Product. The light is green at the moment. We have not reached the yellow light yet. We are very careful to enter into other external obligations."

"In the last budget, the parliament omitted the payment of interests and installments on most of the internal debts. This is not tolerable because it leads to losing confidence in the ministry and the state."