Finance Minister: Cash Reserves Will Reach More Than 90 Billion Dollars By The End Of This Year

Baghdad / NINA / - Minister of Finance Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi confirmed that cash reserves will reach more than 90 billion dollars by the end of this year. Allawi said during the cabinet session yesterday, "The cash reserves with the Central Bank will reach 90 billion dollars by the end of this year," noting that" the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar led to the preservation of foreign currency reserves with the Central Bank of Iraq after the low and critical levels that reached in late 2020". He explained that "the recovery in oil prices and prudent financial management, helped the reserves to become 70 billion dollars by April." He added, "It is expected that the continued recovery of oil prices will increase these reserves to more than 90 billion dollars by the end of 2022, which is a record level for Iraq," noting that "the depreciation of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar in December 2020 contributed to the decline of demand for the US dollar, while the current demand for the dollar is higher than the declines seen in 2020, it is much lower than the period before 2020.” He pointed out that "the continuation of the Ministry of Finance's sales in US dollars reflects the increase in oil revenues, and the increase in the government's provision of goods and services to citizens," stressing that "the increase in the Ministry of Finance's sales of US dollars in return for the decrease in demand for the dollar will lead to an increase in foreign currency reserves with the Central Bank." On the commercial debt of Iraq, he said: The only real commercial debt of Iraq is two of three Eurobonds with an interest rate of 5.8% and 6.72%, while the third at an interest rate of 2.149%, which is guaranteed by the US government. He added, "All other debts are on very concessional terms, and the external debt does not include the debts of the former regime, which amount to 57.8 trillion dinars, or the equivalent of 39.9 billion dollars, and has been frozen since 2003 without interest or repayment as part of the Ministry of Finance's work to reduce debt." Allawi explained that "the Council of Ministers, in its session held on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, agreed to adopt the strategy for repaying the internal public debt for the years (2022-2024), which was prepared by the Public Debt Department / Ministry of Finance within the draft of the draft general budget law of the Federal Republic of Iraq for the fiscal year 2022, noting that “inflation in Iraq is lower than that of the emerging economies and the group of oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.” Allawi referred to "the efforts of the Ministry of Finance in adopting the draft food security law, which includes providing government support to the weak segments, and to help the vulnerable groups of society, affected by the repercussions of the global economic crisis, including increasing social protection allocations and allocating sums of money to improve the ration card system and allocate amounts to support youth projects, in addition to allocating funds to improve pensions for retirees and families of martyrs./ End