For full coverage of Middle East business, see MEED The government of Iraq will cut public spending, raise taxes and electricity tariffs and implement sweeping reforms in its economic and financial management by 2019, the agreement signed last month between…
Tag: Iraq
IMF approves $5.34bn Iraq loan
For full coverage of Middle East business, see MEED The IMF executive board today approved a three-year stand-by arrangement (SBA) for Iraq of SDR 3.831bn (about US$5.34bn, or 230 per cent of quota) to support the government’s economic reform program.…
KRG develops means test as public spending tumbles
For full coverage of Middle East business, see MEED The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq is developing a proxy means test (PMT) to target subsidies and benefits as it acts to cut spending and reduce the number of people on…
Fitch revises Iraq’s outlook to negative
For full coverage of Middle East affairs, see MEED Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook on Iraq’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) to negative from stable and affirmed the IDR at B-. The country ceiling has been affirmed…
IMF forecasts Iraqi oil export price to fall to $45 in 2016
For full coverage of Middle East business events, see MEED An IMF report on the Iraqi economy published on 12 January assumes average Iraqi crude oil export prices will fall to $45 a barrel in 2016 from $50 a barrel…
Fitch rates Iraq at below investment grade
Fitch Ratings, the international credit rating agency, today assigned a sovereign rate of B- to the Iraq in anticipation of the offering later this year of government bonds to finance Baghdad’s budget deficit. This is the first credit rating for…
IMF approves $1.24bn loan for Iraq
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved SDR 891.3 million ($1.24 billion) to help Iraq address its 2015 balance of payment and budget needs in 2015 related to the campaign against ISIS and lower oil prices, the…
Kuwait Energy output to rise to 137,000 b/d in 2017: Fitch
Kuwait Energy, the independent oil and gas producer, is on track to lift its oil production to 137,000 b/d in 2017, Fitch Ratings says in a report. “We expect the company’s Iraqi assets to start coming on-stream over the next 12…
IMF Article IV statement calls for Iraqi spending cuts and reforms
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Amman on 6-15 March for 2015 Article IV meetings with Iraqi officials. A statement released on 18 March said: Oil exports are expected to rise to 3.1 million b/d in 2015 from 2.5…
In Scotland and Kurdistan, the heart rules in the battle for a nation’s soul
It is said that the Scots and the Kurds are the most numerous nationalities without their own state. So it is an historic coincidence, albeit a trivial one, that they will both soon vote in referenda about whether they should…