‘There is no money’: Is Iraq entering a phase of lean years?

Baghdad, Iraq – A colloquial phrase by Iraqi Minister of Health Abdul Hussein al-Musawi uttered at a meeting for medical staff, health workers and others in Baghdad made many Iraqis concerned. “There is no money,” he said, which, to many, seemed closer to an official declaration regarding the scale of the financial distress facing the Iraqi state. In an unprecedented moment of candour before his ministry’s employees, the minister revealed that the government has now placed securing salaries at the forefront of its priorities amid a stifling liquidity crisis. This marks the first time a government minister has spoken so clearly about the difficulty of financing the state’s basic expenditures.According to the minister, the Iraqi government needs approximately 10.8 trillion dinars per month ($8.24bn), based on the Central Bank’s exchange rate, to cover salaries and basic obligations. This comes at a time when oil revenues are declining sharply following the halt of exports through the Strait of Hormuz, bringing back to the forefront the fragility of Iraq’s single-resource-based economy.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Iraqi Kurdish regional leader meets Syrian president i...