The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
BAGHDAD / Reuters
Iraq’s parliament approved on Saturday a long-delayed 104 trillion Iraqi dinar ($88 billion) 2018 state budget, two lawmakers told Reuters, though lawmakers from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region boycotted the session.
The budget of 104 trillion Iraqi dinars ($88 billion) is based on projected oil exports of 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) at a price of $46, lawmakers told Reuters. It envisions government revenues of 91.64 trillion dinars ($77.6 billion) with a deficit of 12.5 trillion dinars ($10.58 billion), according to lawmakers.
Parliament was meant to pass the budget before the start of the 2018 financial year in January but all three main blocs, Shi’ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, and Kurds, had serious issues with the government’s proposal.
The budget cut the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) share to 12.67 percent, down from the 17 percent the region has traditionally received since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The projected 3.8 million bpd exports in the budget include a 250,000 bpd contribution from the Kurdistan region, lawmakers said on Saturday. It was not immediately clear what effect the Kurdish boycott of the vote would have on that.
Oil exports, Iraq’s main source of revenue, have risen above 3.4 million barrels per day this year but a global slump in prices for crude, compounded by the costs of rebuilding an infrastructure damaged by the war against IS, have battered the country’s finances.