IMF: on the Iraqi government to ensure the independence of the central bank policies

IMF: Baghdad ensure the independence of the central bank and not to encroach upon the reserves

BAGHDAD - Conference



An official at the International Monetary Fund , said the public finances in Iraq exposed increasingly vulnerable to a fall in oil prices and the government may face difficulty in financing the budget plan this year . Said Carlo Sdraljevic head of the IMF mission to Iraq, " there is a structural problem based fiscal policy significantly on oil revenues and this dependence is growing , adding that " this trend is worrying because the price of oil, which achieves a balance between revenues and expenses on the rise a few years ago ." She Fund estimated in October that Iraq , which relies on crude oil exports to reap some 93 per cent of government revenues he needs an average oil price of 106.1 dollars in 2013 to adjust the budget , up from $ 95 a barrel in 2011, due to increased expenses. , but Brent crude is currently hovering around $ 107 per barrel is expected to decline gradually in the next two years to 103. dollars in 2014 and $ 100 in 2015, with Astmrat enjoy good market supplies under the oil shale boom in the United States and increase the production of Iraq , according to the views of analysts . said Sdraljevic " another source of concern is the lack of flexibility of spending . There are many aspects of current spending , and when they do not find him the government enough revenue end up with a reduction of investments and this affects Pedroh negative impact on growth in the long term . " And Monetary Fund estimated that the budget of Iraq turned into a deficit of 0.7 percent of GDP last year , the first since 2010, compared with a surplus of 4.1 percent in 2012. continued Sdraljevic saying , that the draft of this year's budget being debated by parliament currently includes a significant increase in spending in its current form and perhaps Iraq faces difficulty in funding. earlier this month withdrew ministers Kurds of session to the Iraqi government because of disagreements over of revenues in connection with the draft budget for 2014 , which is estimated at 174.6 trillion dinars ( 150.1 billion dollars) . said Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament in a press statement that the budget grossly additional spending will collapse if the government continued to pay the share of the territory of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq, amounting to 17 percent of oil revenues , despite the detention of Kurdish oil export revenues . , and continued to say that the draft budget predicts a deficit of 21 trillion dinars, assuming that the opponents Kurds Treasury revenues oil exports of 400 thousand barrels per day . sources in the oil sector that this goal higher much of the export capacity of the current Kurdistan, which amounted to about 255 thousand barrels per day . criticized the Fund in an earlier report Iraq because of poor planning and execution of the budget and overspending and poor implementation rates of investment . said Sdraljevic also said that Iraq must ensure the independence of the central bank policy of the government and keep the management of the Special Reserve Bank separate from the Development Fund for Iraq . continued reserves the Development Fund for Iraq, which is used by the government for projects of public investment amounted to 6.5 billion dollars at the end of 2013 from 18.5 billion dollars in 2012. smarter this is in addition to increased spending budget concerns that the government is using the ultimate exchange reserves foreign Central Bank amounting to 77 billion dollars to finance public spending , which could weaken the currency and increases inflation. sugr ended.

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