A member of Parliamentary Finance reveals the size of Iraq’s debts and is likely not to approve the 2020 budget
Baghdad today – Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Muhammad Sahib Al Daraji, affirmed on Tuesday (19 May 2020) that Iraq’s debts amounted to 124 billion dollars, while the 2020 budget was unlikely to be approved.
Daraji said, during his hosting of the program (Shortest Roads) presented by Dr. Nabil Jassem on Al Sharqiya News Channel, that “Iraq’s debts currently amounted to 124 billion dollars, while expenditures in 2019 amounted to approximately 116 trillion dinars,” noting that “the debts due on Iraq include The consequences of the war for us in Kuwait. ”
He added that “the previous government erred when it agreed to reduce oil production because it caused great losses,” calling on “Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, to take a decisive position on this decision after the appointment of a new oil minister, even if we had to leave the OPEC agreement.”
He pointed out that “there are many solutions that must be followed to save the country from the economic crisis it is going through, including preventing speculation with food and not importing products except the necessary things, as well as imposing control on the border ports by the Iraqi government to ensure that unnecessary products are not imported.” It is “possible to achieve this by supporting the anti-terror agency because there are large (militias) controlling these outlets.”
He continued: “The exchange rate of the currency must be changed, and the direct sale to the citizens should be taken instead of the auction, and external relations must be exploited and worked to improve them,” stressing that “it is necessary to review Iraq’s decision on reducing oil, and to return from it regardless of circumstances.”
On the budget, Darraji commented: “The circumstances Iraq is going through are difficult, and the possibility of passing the 2020 budget, so far, is not certain.”