Economist: Baghdad loses one billion dinars per month due to the smuggling of regional oil.
Economist: Baghdad loses one billion dinars per month due to the smuggling of regional oil.
6-28-2025
Al-Maalouma/Baghdad…
Economic expert Rashid Al-Saadi revealed on Saturday that the weak government oversight of border crossings in the Kurdistan Region has contributed to the escalation of oil derivative smuggling to Turkey, causing Iraq huge financial losses.
Al-Saadi told Al-Maalouma Agency, “The Baghdad government has not yet taken strict measures to prevent the exploitation of irregular border crossings to smuggle oil derivatives from the Kurdistan Region to Turkey, which has contributed to an increase in the rate of smuggling to reach about 400,000 barrels per day.”
He explained that “this ongoing smuggling leads to Iraq losing approximately 300 billion dinars per month, as a result of selling oil outside official frameworks,” noting that “these smuggling operations have directly harmed the national economy, in light of the lack of any tangible progress in talks between Baghdad and Erbil to curb this phenomenon.”
Al-Saadi explained that “smugglers resort to using irregular border crossings, completely outside the control of the central government, which complicates efforts to control them.”
Al-Saadi concluded by pointing out that “smuggling operations have increased significantly in the recent period, after they were estimated at only 200,000 barrels per day, which calls for urgent action to stop the depletion of the country’s resources.”
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