Iraq: The conflict over the budget

    It has been akin to a cat-and-mouse play between the Iraqi budget for 2015 and the collapse of oil prices in the world. Officials at Haidar al-Abadi’s government are restlessly looking at the prices of oil as if they were shareholders, adding and deducting from the long-anticipated budget according to the changing price of the oil barrel. But the instability of oil prices means that the budget is also inconsistent. The Iraqi budget for this year is explosive as was the case with all the budgets that have preceded it in the previous years. After several studies and negotiations, the Iraqi cabinet presented the budget law to the parliament, with the budget reaching $105bn. Meanwhile, budget deficit reached roughly 20 per cent and the gap is set to be partially fulfilled by a $4.5bn loan from the International Monetary Fund and $2bn loan from the World Bank.