2024-01-17T09:30:26+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ The Ministry of Finance revealed on Wednesday that the size of Iraqi revenues in the federal budget during 11 months exceeded 121 trillion dinars, confirming that the contribution of oil to the budget rose to 93%.
Agency followed the data and tables issued by the Ministry of Finance in January of this year, for the accounts of 11 months of the past fiscal year, which showed that oil is still the main resource for Iraq’s general budget, reaching 93%, indicating that the rentier economy is the basis of the country’s general budget.
The financial tables indicated that the total revenues until November of last year amounted to 121 trillion, 214 billion, 907 million, 87 thousand, and 408 dinars, after excluding transfer revenues amounting to 1 trillion, 438 billion, 122 million, and 744 thousand dinars, explaining that the total expenditures with advances amounted to 98 trillion, 727 billion, 745 million, and 419 thousand dinars.
According to the financial tables, oil revenues amounted to 112 trillion, 665 billion, 1 million, and 402 thousand dinars, which constitutes 93% of the general budget, while non-oil revenues amounted to 8 trillion, 549 billion, 504 million, and 931 thousand dinars.
In an interview with Agency, economic expert Mohammed Al-Hasani considered that “the decrease in oil’s contribution to the general budget is a positive factor,” adding that “the decrease was not significant and came as a result of the decrease in oil prices in global markets.”
He added that “oil prices have fallen significantly, which has affected Iraq’s general budget,” stressing that “oil prices are subject to global fluctuations.”
He pointed out that “the Iraqi government must exploit the financial abundance in the budget to develop the economic and agricultural sectors to reduce dependence on oil.”
In March 2021, the Prime Minister’s advisor for financial affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed in an interview with Agency that the reasons for the economy remaining rentier are due to the wars and the imposition of an economic blockade on Iraq during the past era and the political conflicts we are witnessing today, which led to the dispersion of economic resources.
The continued reliance of the Iraqi state on oil as the sole source of the general budget puts Iraq at risk from global crises that occur from time to time due to the impact of oil on them, which makes the country turn every time to cover the deficit through borrowing from abroad or domestically, which thus indicates the inability to manage the state’s funds effectively, and the inability to find alternative financing solutions.