Iraq is heavily dependent on oil and needs money to rebuild its damaged infrastructure (*** Monday, October 4th ~ Iraq Will Announce a Significant Increase in Oil Reserves ... )
October 1, 2010
IMF says Iraq has made good progress with its economy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised Iraq for making "good progress" in reconstructing its economy.
It commended it for maintaining macroeconomic stability in the face of difficult security conditions.
The IMF also gave the go-ahead for a $741m (£469m) loan to Iraq.
The money is part of a previously agreed $3.7 bn loan programme designed to help the country rebuild its ravaged infrastructure.
The loan is the second instalment of a 24-month loan the IMF awarded to Iraq in February.
The organisation said in a statement: "Iraq has continued to make good progress in rebuilding key economic institutions and maintaining macroeconomic stability, under very difficult circumstances."
The IMF has lent smaller amounts before, loans that came with the conditions of removing subsidies from manufacturers and farmers.
Iraq relies on oil revenues for as much as 90% of its income and needs funds to rebuild after years of conflict and insurgency following the 2003 US-led invasion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11457074
October 01, 2010
IMF releases 741-million-dollar loan to Iraq
The International Monetary Fund said Friday it was releasing 741 million dollars in financing to Iraq after the country made good progress in reconstructing the war-torn economy.
The loan is the second installment of a 24-month loan the IMF awarded to Iraq in February.
The IMF executive board completed its first review of Iraq's progress under a program supported by the loan, bringing the total resources currently available to Iraq to about 1.204 billion dollars, the Washington-based institution said in a statement.
The two-year loan, called a Stand-By Arrangement, offers Iraq a total of 3.7 billion dollars to help authorities ensure macroeconomic stability, advance structural reforms and temporarily support the budget.
"Iraq has continued to make good progress in rebuilding key economic institutions and maintaining macroeconomic stability, under very difficult circumstances," IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara said in the statement.
"The modernization of Iraq's public financial management system encompasses further improvements in fiscal reporting and the budgetary process, and the adoption of a single treasury account," he said.
The IMF loan to Iraq follows a loan of 746 million dollars in 2005, which was extended in 2007 and replaced by another arrangement that expired in March 2009.
In 2004, the IMF had given "post-conflict" aid to Iraq after it lost a war against the United States and its allies.
The Iraqi economy is slowly recovering from the destruction caused by the international isolation of the regime of Saddam Hussein before the war, by the war itself and the violence that followed.
Shinohara called on the government to step up the pace of fiscal and financial sector structural reforms and noted the government had achieved a surplus budget in the first half of 2010.
"The authorities have made commendable efforts to conclude debt agreements," he added.
AFP Global Edition
