IMF to provide 3.6-billion-dollar loan to Iraq
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20100224/c...Yh8IpsYTqQqg-- AFP/File – The International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved …
42 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a 3.6-billion-dollar loan to Iraq to help the war-torn country meet pressing finance needs.
The IMF executive board approved a two-year so-called Stand-By Arrangement for Iraq for about 3.6 billion dollars "to cover the country's balance of payments needs," the Washington-based institution said in a statement.
The action makes about 455 million dollars "immediately" available to the Iraqi authorities, it said.
The new loan follows a 15-month program supported by a Stand-By Arrangement initially approved on December 20, 2007 and which expired on March 18, 2009.
"The successor arrangement is designed to support Iraq's economic program over the next 24 months through February 23, 2012," the IMF said.
Iraq's parliament adopted a 2010 budget last month that foresees a 22.8 percent rise in spending to 72.3 billion dollars but still projects a reduced deficit, deputy speaker Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya said.
"Investment expenditure amounts to 20.2 billion dollars while the rest will be taken up by running costs," Attiya told AFP.
The budget projects income at 52.7 billion dollars, leaving a deficit of 19.6 billion dollars, or 27.1 percent of total expenditure, compared with 34.4 percent last year.
The deficit would be covered by the transfer of funds not used in 2009, by the issuing of bonds, by loans from the World Bank and the IMF, and by a rise in oil prices, Attiya said.
Iraq currently produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, of which around two million barrels per day are exported, and its oil earnings account for 85 percent of state revenues.
The country has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran, with an estimated 115 billion barrels.
The financial shortfall in Iraq's budget comes at a difficult time for Iraq as the nation of 29 million people struggles to emerge from a brutal sectarian conflict triggered by the 2003 US-led invasion.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100224...fpublicaidiraq
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20100224/c...Yh8IpsYTqQqg-- AFP/File – The International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved …
42 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a 3.6-billion-dollar loan to Iraq to help the war-torn country meet pressing finance needs.
The IMF executive board approved a two-year so-called Stand-By Arrangement for Iraq for about 3.6 billion dollars "to cover the country's balance of payments needs," the Washington-based institution said in a statement.
The action makes about 455 million dollars "immediately" available to the Iraqi authorities, it said.
The new loan follows a 15-month program supported by a Stand-By Arrangement initially approved on December 20, 2007 and which expired on March 18, 2009.
"The successor arrangement is designed to support Iraq's economic program over the next 24 months through February 23, 2012," the IMF said.
Iraq's parliament adopted a 2010 budget last month that foresees a 22.8 percent rise in spending to 72.3 billion dollars but still projects a reduced deficit, deputy speaker Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya said.
"Investment expenditure amounts to 20.2 billion dollars while the rest will be taken up by running costs," Attiya told AFP.
The budget projects income at 52.7 billion dollars, leaving a deficit of 19.6 billion dollars, or 27.1 percent of total expenditure, compared with 34.4 percent last year.
The deficit would be covered by the transfer of funds not used in 2009, by the issuing of bonds, by loans from the World Bank and the IMF, and by a rise in oil prices, Attiya said.
Iraq currently produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, of which around two million barrels per day are exported, and its oil earnings account for 85 percent of state revenues.
The country has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran, with an estimated 115 billion barrels.
The financial shortfall in Iraq's budget comes at a difficult time for Iraq as the nation of 29 million people struggles to emerge from a brutal sectarian conflict triggered by the 2003 US-led invasion.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100224...fpublicaidiraq