Shafaq News / The Iraqi Ministry of Finance issued the state accounts from January until last September for the fiscal year 2023, which indicated that the volume of revenues in the Iraqi budget amounted to more than 95 trillion dinars, while the oil contribution to the federal budget remained 95%, An economist warned of the fluctuations in oil prices at the present time.
Shafaq News Agency followed the data and tables issued by the Ministry of Finance this November for the accounts of 9 months of the year 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 of 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 transfer revenues amounting to one trillion, 363 billion, 258 million and 617 thousand dinars, while the total expenditures with advances amounted to 72 trillion, 498 billion and 964 million. And 927 thousand dinars.
According to the table, oil revenues amounted to 91 trillion, 464 billion, 972 million, 017 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, economic expert Muhammad Al-Hassani, speaking to Shafaq News Agency, warned of the fluctuation in oil prices at the present time, expecting them to decline further to reach $70, which will affect Iraq’s general budget.
Al-Hassani said, “Iraq has relied entirely on the rentier economy, leaving other economic sectors without development despite the financial savings. It has become difficult at the present time to develop these sectors because the financial savings are mostly used by Iraq for operational expenses without investment.”
The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Financial Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, confirmed in March 2021 that the reasons for the economy remaining rentier are due to wars and the imposition of sieges during the past era and the political conflicts we are witnessing today, which led to the dispersion of economic resources.
The Iraqi state’s continued reliance on oil as the sole source of the general budget puts Iraq at risk of global crises that occur from time to time because oil is affected by them, which makes the country tend every time to cover the deficit through borrowing from abroad or within, and thus indicates an inability to manage… Effectively using state funds, and the inability to find alternative financing solutions.
shafaq.com
