the rise in oil prices would fill the deficit in the budget, Iraqi official says

Shafaq News/ The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed that the rise in oil prices will push the government not to borrow to fill the budget deficit.

Salih said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, "The rise in oil prices will fill the deficit in the budget, but this rise needs to be sustained throughout the fiscal year."

"The budget has set the price of a barrel at 45 dollars, so what concerns us is calculating the average price of a barrel during one year," he said, expecting the price of a barrel to reach 65 dollars in 12 months.

He pointed, "this price would fill in whole or part of the deficit, noting that the current year's budget was built on a 27-trillion-dinars deficit."

It is noteworthy that oil prices rose to more than $80 a barrel, following a stiffing crisis during which the oil barrel reached a price of less than $30 amid the spread of COVID-19 which affected Iraq’s general budget that depends by 93% on oil revenues.

Iraq's general budget for 2021 set the oil price at $45, with exports amounting to 3.250 million barrels per day, and a deficit of 28 trillion dinars.