Iraq’s financial revenues exceed 114 trillion dinars in 9 months
The Federal Ministry of Finance revealed, on Wednesday, that the size of Iraqi revenues in the general budget during 9 months of the current year 2024 exceeded 114 trillion dinars, indicating that non-oil revenues amounted to 11%.
Shafaq News Agency followed up on the data and tables issued by the Ministry of Finance in December, for the accounts of January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September of the current fiscal year, which showed that oil is still the main resource for Iraq’s general budget, reaching 89%, indicating that the rentier economy is the basis of the country’s general budget.
The financial tables indicated that the total revenues for the nine months of the current year amounted to 114 trillion, 349 billion, 735 million, 335 thousand, and 311 dinars, indicating that the total advances amounted to 15 trillion, 796 billion, 51 million, 63 thousand, and 162 dinars.
According to the financial tables, oil revenues amounted to 101 trillion, 944 billion, 446 million, and 923 thousand dinars, which constitutes 89% of the general budget, while non-oil revenues amounted to 12 trillion, 405 billion, 292 million, and 412 thousand dinars, which constitutes 11% of Iraq’s general budget.
For his part, economic expert Mohammed Al-Hasani told Shafaq News Agency, “The defect of the Iraqi economy is that it is rentier and depends mainly on oil, and that Iraq has not activated the customs tariff that contributes to raising financial revenues properly.”
He added that “attempts to support the agriculture, industry and tourism sectors in order to be a second tributary to oil were timid, and each sector did not contribute more than 4% of the gross domestic product,” calling for “activating a number of laws that encourage the local and foreign private sector to enter the Iraqi market, including customs tariff laws, consumer protection and anti-monopoly laws.”
In March 2021, the Prime Minister’s advisor for financial affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed to Shafaq News 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, and thus indicates the inability to manage the state’s funds effectively, and the inability to find alternative financing solutions.
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Economic Center Calls for a Comprehensive Review of Banking Operations in Iraq
The Iraqi Center for Political and Economic Affairs, on Wednesday, extended an open invitation to the Iraqi government and relevant authorities, on the occasion of the International Banking Day, to conduct a comprehensive review of the work of both government and private banks in Iraq.
The director of the center, Wissam Al-Helou, said in a statement received by Shafak News Agency, that there are indicators confirming the urgent need to reconsider the work of government and private banks, and the modern and advanced technological changes that the world is witnessing, which have begun to cover the banking sector in most countries of the world.
He added, “To be fair, there are some operating banks, and very few government and private banks, which constitute one or two percent, whose managements are working to develop and keep pace with their work in a manner consistent with the financial and economic situation in the country, and linking them to the global banking system.”
Al-Halou also confirmed that there are “negative and fatal indicators observed in most government and even private banks, as most government banks have become an unattractive work environment, and banking systems have become unattractive due to the observed slowness in procedures, and the lack of clear facilities and instructions that encourage the Iraqi citizen to deposit financial amounts in banks or loan instructions, and the increase in official media statements from some banks, most of which are not true on the ground.
He added, “Not to mention the dealings resulting from some of the moods of employees working in the banking sector, some of the complexities and routine, and some of the favoritism witnessed in this sector. He diagnosed a great poverty in the work of banks, especially in the technological aspect and the speed of completing financial transactions, and the development witnessed by the world in the field of artificial intelligence and modern banking programs.”
He explained that “all these factors are the reason why most Iraqi citizens resort to saving their money at home, the lack of complete confidence in the banking system, and the ambiguity regarding the interest rates on deposits and the percentage of loans and advances granted to employees and citizens, which also shows indications of some favoritism in issuing loans and advances through people from within banks or brokers who deal with the subject of advances and loans, and exploit the citizen’s need and deduct a bribe from the loan or advance amount in exchange for obtaining it faster or through devious means through secret coordination between some employees from within some banks and some brokers and brokers in this sector.” Al-Halou continued by saying that this requires the Iraqi government and the relevant ministries and bodies to put an end to these problems, and make 2025 the starting point for correcting the banking system completely in Iraq.
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Banks are the most traded sector in the Iraqi market in terms of value.
The Securities Commission announced on Wednesday that the banking sector was the most traded sector in the Iraq Stock Exchange in terms of value for the third quarter of 2024.
The commission said in a report seen by Shafak News Agency, “The value of trading in the Iraq Stock Exchange rose to 158.5 billion dinars for the third quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, which amounted to 94.3 billion dinars.”
She added that “the banking sector ranked first in terms of trading value, with nearly 88.8 billion dinars, followed by the industrial sector in second place with a trading value of 23.8, followed by the communications sector in third place with a trading value of 8.6 billion dinars.”
The Commission indicated that “investment sales to non-Iraqis in the Iraq Stock Exchange for the third quarter of 2024 amounted to 18 million and 39 thousand dinars, while their sales amounted to 42 million and 479 thousand dinars.”
