Shafaq News / The Iraqi Ministry of Finance issued state accounts from January, until last September for the fiscal year 2023, which indicated that the volume of revenues in Iraq’s budget amounted to more than 95 trillion dinars, and while the contribution of oil to the federal budget remained to 95%, an economist warned of fluctuations in oil prices at the present time.
Shafaq News Agency followed up on the data and tables issued by the Ministry of Finance this November for the accounts of 9 months of 2023, which showed that oil is still the main resource for Iraq’s general budget, reaching 95%, which indicates that the rentier economy is the basis in Iraq’s general budget.
Through the financial tables, it became clear that the total revenues until the month of September amounted to 95 trillion, 848 billion, 186 million, 624 thousand and 217 dinars, after excluding the transfer revenues of one trillion, 363 billion, 258 million and 617 thousand dinars, while the total expenses with the advances amounted to 72 trillion, 498 billion, 964 million and 927 thousand dinars.
According to the table, oil revenues amounted to 91 trillion, 464 billion, 972 million, 077 thousand and 390 dinars, which constitute 95% of the general budget, while non-oil revenues amounted to 4 trillion, 383 billion, 214 million, 606 thousand and 827 dinars.
For his part, economist Mohammed Al-Hassani, while speaking to Shafaq News Agency, warned of the volatility of oil prices at the moment, expecting that it will fall further to reach $70, which affects Iraq’s general budget.
Al-Hassani said, “Iraq relied entirely on the rentier economy, leaving other economic sectors without development despite the access to financial savings, and it has become difficult at the present time to develop these sectors because the financial savings are used by Iraq, most of them to operating expenses without investment.”
The Prime Minister’s advisor for financial affairs, Mazher Mohammed Saleh, confirmed in March 2021 that the reasons for the survival of the economy as rent is due to wars and the imposition of siege during the past era and what we are witnessing today from political conflicts, led to the dispersal of economic resources.
The continuation of the Iraqi state’s dependence on oil as the sole source of the general budget, makes Iraq at risk of global crises that occur from time to time because oil is affected by it, which makes the country every time to cover the deficit by borrowing from abroad or inside, which indicates the inability to manage state funds effectively, and the inability to find alternative financing solutions.
