Al-Marsoumi presents the government with financial alternatives to reduce the exchange rate.
Al-Marsoumi presents the government with financial alternatives to reduce the exchange rate.
10-10-2026
Information/Baghdad…
On Saturday, economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi presented a package of financial and economic measures that he said represent alternatives to address the financial deficit in Iraq, calling for reducing public expenditures and maximizing non-oil revenues, instead of resorting to reducing the exchange rate of the dinar and burdening the poor and vulnerable groups with the cost of inflation.
In his proposals, reviewed by Al-Maalomah News Agency, Al-Marsoumi stated, “The exchange rate is not sacrosanct, but devaluing the dinar against foreign currencies should not be the first line of defense, nor should it be a means to finance deficits and failures in fiscal, trade, and investment policies.” He warned against resorting to easy solutions that generate limited revenue at the expense of the poor.
He added that “every devaluation of the exchange rate reshapes the relationship between the monetary and fiscal authorities,” considering that using it to finance deficits could transform the Central Bank into a revenue-generating tool at the expense of its role as an independent monetary authority. Regarding
reducing public spending, Al-Marsoumi called for “reforming the salary system and limiting payments to those actually working in state institutions, abolishing salaries granted by political decisions, reducing the salaries and privileges of special grades, as well as reducing the number of advisors, addressing bureaucratic bloat, and regulating government appointments and contracts.” He
also proposed reforming the pension system, limiting social protection payments to eligible groups according to clear criteria, restructuring the food ration card system to target vulnerable groups, junior employees, and retirees, and halting funding for non-essential operational expenses. The proposals included reducing spending on essential items, such as travel, furniture, government vehicles, experts, and consultants.
They also included reviewing pensions and privileges granted to former officials, merging endowments into a single ministry, and abolishing provincial councils and departments deemed unnecessary. Furthermore,
they called for subjecting contracts and agreements that impose significant and sustainable financial obligations on Iraq to parliamentary oversight. Regarding maximizing public revenues, the proposals included abolishing customs exemptions granted to certain entities, tightening control over border crossings and implementing the SKODA system at all crossings, closing illegal border crossings, reforming the tax system, expanding the tax base, and expediting tax collection from major companies, particularly those operating in the oil and telecommunications sectors.
The proposals also emphasized the importance of collecting visa fees from visitors, including those attending religious events, imposing annual fees on foreign workers, collecting public treasury profits from state-owned companies, and improving the management and revaluation of state assets according to prevailing market prices.
Al-Marsoumi stressed “the necessity of expediting the rehabilitation of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil export pipeline, and forming a high-level committee to recover uncollected public funds, including tax debts, non-performing loans, customs duties, state property rents, and electricity fees, in addition to launching a national project for financial and tax digitization that links tax, customs, real estate, and banking systems to reduce evasion and corruption and increase non-oil revenues.”
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