Iraq postpones launch Eurobond two billion dollars until 2017




2016/9/29 22:16


[Oan- follow-up]

Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that Iraq is likely to postpone the sale of bonds two billion dollars in global markets until early 2017, at least the hope that the result of high oil revenues and the victory over the organization Daesh to the public finances of the state improved.

Baghdad had said it would issue bonds that the US government guarantee half its value in the last quarter of 2016, but it seems that those plans are uncertain after the dismissal of Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari last week because of corruption charges denied by the minister.

He said the appearance of Mohammed Saleh told Reuters in an interview, "I think we Snerjih [Release]." Adding that "we should see the situation in the oil market - if we can improve a little bit, although the oil market has seen a further deterioration, we will have to borrow postponed."

Iraq and issued international bonds worth $ 2.7 billion due in 2028 with a coupon of 5.8 percent and a revenue currently about nine percent.

Iraq and resorted to the International Monetary Fund to borrow in order to make up for lost revenues from oil, which would encourage other lenders to provide support.

In July the Fund approved a loan application under a three-year, $ 5.34 billion in exchange for a package of economic reforms, and Baghdad hopes to provide additional aid worth more than $ 12 billion from sources such as the Group of Seven major industrialized nations.

Saleh said last month that Iraq agreed "in principle" on a deferred loan for three years worth of three billion dollars from the World Bank to support Baghdad's budget, this will be the first loan installment of supplementary funding for the agreement with the IMF.

He added that the details of the conditions to support public financial institutions and pensions in Iraq are not yet clear, but the first tranche will be disbursed in December.


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