May 24, 2012Iraq seeks IMF help to lessen reliance on oil exports
Iraq is seeking advice from the International Monetary Fund to help it diversify its economy and lessen its almost total reliance on oil exports for hard cash.
An IMF team, led by the Fund’s regional director, Hadi al-Alawi, has just ended a visit to the country to explore ways to invest the surge in its oil revenues in ‘lucrative projects.’
The team held a meeting with Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki to draw new guidelines for future investments.
Iraq’s oil exports have seen exponential growth recently and in the past month they hit 2.5 million bpd, a level not reached in 23 years.
At current prices on international markets Iraq now earns more than $250 million per day.
A statement issued by Maliki’s office following the visit by the IMF team underscored the importance of funneling the expanded oil earnings in “high earnings projects.”
“The Iraqi economy cannot remain solely dependent on oil revenues,” the statement said. “The government is keen to invest our oil revenues which are seeing a steady growth in the development of other sectors to obtain a diversified and stable economy that is not dependent on gas and oil prices.”
The IMF visit was said to have taken place at Iraq’s request and the prime minister told the visiting team about the country’s readiness to make use of the fund’s expertise.
source
