Iraq has maintained its stable credit rating for ten years.
Iraq has maintained its stable credit rating for ten years.
2025-08-26
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, confirmed on Monday that Iraq has been able to maintain its credit rating at a stable level over the past ten years, thanks to precise mechanisms for settling external debt and controlling public debt.
In a statement to Shafaq News Agency, Saleh said, “Iraq’s remaining foreign debt does not exceed $9 billion, including the remnants of the 2004 Paris Club debt and some foreign commercial debts after settlements extending until 2028.”
He pointed out that “there is a similar amount related to development fund loans for liberated areas and others, which will be fully settled over the next decade.”
He added, “The federal general budget has established a highly governed and disciplined mechanism for handling annual external debt maturities, which has strengthened the stability of Iraq’s credit rating at ‘B ‘ over the past decade.”
The advisor explained that “the external debt ratio does not exceed 7 to 8% of GDP, which is significantly lower than the safe international standard ceiling of 60%,” noting that “the total domestic and external public debt does not exceed 35 to 40% of the country’s GDP.”
He added , “The crises Iraq has experienced since 2014, as a result of fluctuating oil prices, have led to domestic borrowing, bringing the total domestic debt to approximately 92 trillion dinars, 47% of which is within the Central Bank’s investment portfolio.” He emphasized that “this debt is fully covered by cash liquidity and foreign reserves, which exceed 100%.”
He concluded by saying, “Fiscal and monetary policies are working together to gradually extinguish domestic debt, especially since 95% of it is concentrated within the government banking system, as part of the current government program’s plans to reduce debt in a comfortable and gradual manner.”
shafaq.com
