Economist to Al-Zawraa: Iraq needs to sell oil at $96 to cover the budget

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[size=52]Economist to Al-Zawraa: Iraq needs to sell oil at $96 to cover the budget[/size]

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09/04/2024
He confirmed that there is currently no problem in covering operating expenses...
Al-Zawraa/ Mustafa Fleih:
Economic expert “Safwan Qusay” confirmed that there is currently no problem in covering operating expenses, and while he explained that Iraq needs to sell a barrel of oil at $96 to cover the 208 trillion planned in the budget, he called for activating collection using artificial intelligence.
Qusay said in an interview with “Al-Zawraa”: “The Central Bank currently sells more than $270 million at a rate of 22 sessions per month, so it can provide no less than 7.5 trillion Iraqi dinars, in addition to this number, one trillion and 500 billion dinars, which are non-oil revenues that go to the Ministry of Finance, and there are payments that go in dollars from Iraq’s external balance to oil companies.”
“The amount we can spend monthly may approach 9-10 billion dollars per month, and there is no problem in covering the item of employee compensation, as well as social care, the ration card, and retirees’ salaries,” he added, adding, “However, what is currently being raised in some cases is related to the inaccuracy of the data submitted to the Ministry of Finance or that there are public companies that have undertaken the issue of collection, especially the Ministry of Electricity, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Oil, but they were unable to achieve these goals as planned, so there is a debt transferred from 2023 to 2024 of no less than nine trillion dinars.”
He pointed out, “The Ministry of Electricity must expedite the issue of collection because the volume of electricity production does not match the volume of collection, meaning there is waste in the issue of collection and collection, and there may also be corruption in the lack of conformity between the quantities of production and the quantities of collection for electricity, as well as communications fees, heavy water, and regular water.”
“We need to shift to using artificial intelligence for collection operations and monitoring where public money is being wasted. Currently, the Ministry of Finance is covering this deficit, but it also needs to rehabilitate the mechanisms for not delaying the payment of salaries, as well as reviewing the issue of appointments that took place recently and led to the exhaustion of some public companies, and that some of these be transferred to other ministries. The Ministry of Finance can finance these ministries and benefit from these appointments, because these public companies cannot operate with a cost recovery mentality with this inflation in numbers,”
he added. “Rationalizing spending on the rest of the items will contribute to providing liquidity, but currently with the average price above $69 per barrel, there is no problem with liquidity, but if oil prices fall, the risks of financing these items will certainly increase.”
He stressed that “Iraq needs $96 to cover the 208 trillion planned in the budget, but operating spending, employee compensation, social welfare, retirees, the ration card, and other expenses governed by operating laws need $69 with an export quantity of 3 million and 200 thousand barrels. If the decline in oil prices increases or we delay in obtaining the quantities planned in the budget, certainly after 180 days of delay, we could witness risks in financing.”[/size]
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