NEWS Release - Iraq Gets $5.34 Billion IMF Loan to Support Economic Stability
Iraqi economy faces double shock of lower oil prices, rising security challenges - IMF loan supports Iraqi government’s economic reform program, ensures debt sustainability - Program includes measures to protect the poor, curb corruption
The IMF has approved a three-year, $5.34 Billion loan for Iraq focused on implementing economic and financial policies to help the country cope with lower oil prices and ensure debt sustainability.
The loan will be provided under the Stand-By Arrangement facility and also includes measures to protect vulnerable populations—critical in a time of ongoing conflict, which has resulted in over 4 million internally displaced people.
The program builds upon the success of the recent Staff-Monitored Program, which the authorities started in November 2015 to address the double shock of ISIS attacks and the sharp drop in global oil prices, and will help close a financing gap of about $18 Billion.
Speaking to IMF News, Christian Josz, IMF mission chief for Iraq, explains the underlying reasons for the loan and the main goals of the IMF-supported program.
IMF News: Why is Iraq requesting financial assistance from the IMF now?
Josz: Iraq has been hit with a double shock for an extended time period. First, the ISIS insurgency since mid-2014 has created a humanitarian and social crisis that unfolded into millions of internally displaced persons, with destruction to assets and infrastructure leading to disruptions in production and in trade routes. The non-oil economy sharply contracted as a result. Second, the steep fall in global oil prices—on which Iraq depends almost entirely for its government revenue—has made the situation worse, culminating in both internal and external imbalances, large and rising budget deficits and increasing public debt, as well as losses in official foreign exchange reserves and some pressure on the Iraqi Dinar.
As a result, the Iraqi authorities approached the IMF with a request for emergency assistance, and we worked with the authorities to provide emergency financing of US$1.2 billion in July 2015 under the Rapid Financing Instrument. However, the intensification of the two shocks thereafter led the authorities to request a longer-term engagement with us that would not only address the fallout from the crisis, but also lay the ground for long-delayed, deep-seated reforms. In this vein, a staff-monitored program (a program with no attached lending) started in November 2015—at the Authorities’ request—to instill the necessary conditions, and build the required capacity and track record to move to the current Stand-By Arrangement.
IMF News: What are the key policy components of Iraq's program and how will it help the country?
Josz: The program is designed with a focus on four key elements: reduce budget spending and restore public finances to a healthy state and stabilize debt; protect spending on the social front to ease the lives of the poorest, internally displaced people and refugees; improve the quality of public spending and prevent accumulation of unpaid debt through improvements in public financial management; and begin the process of restructuring state-owned banks to reduce their dominance in the banking system, thereby mitigating financial sector risks and preserving the sector’s stability.
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