Iraq to achieve over 24 billion USD financial surplus in 2023
West Qurna oil fields, Iraq. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Parliamentary Committee on Oil, Gas and Natural Resources announced on Tuesday that Iraq will achieve a financial surplus of more than 24 billion USD in 2023, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
Committee member Zainab Al-Moussawi told INA that oil price in the current year’s budget will be about 65 USD per barrel, and this will achieve a financial surplus.
Al-Moussawi pointed out that current expectations indicate that crude oil prices will continue to rise to be between 85-100 USD in the global markets this year, because of the increasing demand by the European Union and other countries as one of the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Al-Moussawi explained that the financial surplus for 2023 is 68 million USD a day, which is 2.04 billion USD a month, so that the total will be more than 24 billion USD a year.
Al-Moussawi stressed the need to invest the financial surplus in developing the industrial and agricultural sectors and supporting the private sector, to help factories operate and produce locally manufactured goods, in conjunction with a gradual re-imposition of taxes on goods that are produced locally.
Al-Moussawi emphasized the importance of activating control and keeping locally produced commodities at prices equal to or less than the prices of imported commodities.