The IMF expects Iraq’s debt to rise to $ 132 billion by 2018
The IMF expects Iraq’s debt to rise to $ 132 billion by 2018
Posted, 2017/08/27 23:18
Baghdad today – follow-up
The newspaper published the term, a report of the International Monetary Fund recently published a forecast of Iraq’s Diwan next year to 132 billion dollars a year and cited a number of reasons.
According to the report according to the extent that “Iraq’s debt for 2013 was $ 73.1 billion,” and rose in 2014 to $ 75.2 billion, and in 2015, the debt became $ 98.0 billion, while in 2016, $ 114.6 billion , To rise in 2017 to 122.9, the report also expected that the government’s debt next year to 132.4 billion dollars, which confirms that government debt is increasing.
As for the fears of the increase in these figures, Al-Mada quoted the appearance of Mohamed Saleh, financial adviser to Prime Minister Haider Abadi, saying: “Although I have not seen the report, but in any case there are two basic issues: First: 68% of the debt number mentioned during the three years The past is the internal debt between government institutions exclusively addressed by the Central Bank of Iraq and the three main government banks, “noting that” the external debt actually withdrawn from loans pledged did not exceed 8 billion dollars during the past three years. ”
“Yes, there are international commitments to provide loans to Iraq has really amounted to 16 billion dollars because of the security and financial crises that Iraq is facing in mid-2014, but in practice, Iraq has withdrawn (to date) only half of these loan commitments of $ 16 billion, Therefore, it is not debts but pledges and become debt only when the withdrawal, followed: There are additional commitments to provide loans to Iraq, including the British loan of $ 12 billion, which came as we have stated in a pledge to grant loans to spend on infrastructure projects, mostly in the provinces of southern Iraq For networks purposes In addition, international reports often indicate any intention or commitment to be debts, or even arrears of receivables on the way to payment. Put it in the quilt of debt, indicating the amplification of the number of indebtedness.
Saleh points out that 38% of Iraq’s debt goes back to the era of the previous regime and is subject to the 2004 Paris Club Agreement, which is the phase of write-off by up to 100%. The financing of the Iraq-Iran war machine has been successful: (Debt abhorrent) because they remain in the accounts of creditor countries without settlement, they take as debt without treatment or write off, expected to be written off 100% in the coming days.
The financial advisor to the prime minister said at the end of his speech, “We must not forget that there are other debts belonging to the former regime arose during the period of economic embargo imposed by the resolutions of the Security Council on the former regime, and in our opinion, the claim is a flagrant violation of the resolutions of the Security Council and Iraq in A legal solution because it was carrying irregularities against the international community, in general, the reports of indebtedness of Iraq issued by third parties come blind without adequate economic and legal analysis of the background of Iraqi debt and historical accumulations.
The report said that “the Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament confirmed in previous statements that the total amount of outstanding debt reached about 119 billion dollars, indicating that out of the total debt $ 80 billion external debt, and noted that” the total debt was $ 107 billion, However, after the British loan estimated at $ 12 billion, it rose to $ 119 billion.
“Economists have repeatedly called for the government to disclose the details of the internal and external debts owed by Iraq, both those that date back to the time of the previous regime or borrowed in recent years, and indicate the trends and objectives of those debts,” she said.
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