Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Finance revealed on Monday that Iraq’s financial revenues in the federal budget during the first quarter of 2024 surpassed 30 trillion dinars (around $22.98 billion).
The data released by the Finance Ministry in May for the finances for the current fiscal year’s months of January, February, and March indicated that oil remained the primary resource for Iraq’s general budget, accounting for 89 percent of the total, noting that the rentier economy forms the foundation of the country’s general budget.
Iraq’s financial revenues in the first three months of 2024 exceeded 31.18 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $23.89 billion), and the total expenditures surpassed 3.67 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $2.81 billion).
Oil revenues during January, February, and March surpassed 27.67 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $21.2 billion), while non-oil revenues reached 3.53 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $2.7 billion).
Economic experts see that rather than allocating more funds to infrastructure projects, the Iraqi government should instead prioritize industrial and agricultural initiatives.
Due to its continued reliance on oil as the only source of the general budget, Iraq is vulnerable to periodic global crises because oil prices are impacted.
As a result, the country frequently borrows money to make up the shortfall, which shows a lack of effective state fund management and a failure to identify other sources of funding.
Source: Iraqi News, 20. May 2024
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