IMF Moves Closer to Increase Aid to Iraq and Jordan
- Fund to start talks soon with Jordan on new loan program
- Slumping oil pushes Iraq budget deficit to 23% of GDP in 2015
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The International Monetary Fund plans to soon send teams to Jordan and Iraq for talks that may lead to more aid for the two countries, which are grappling with the economic fallout of Mideast conflicts.
Jordan has asked for another loan program and the fund hopes to conclude talks with the kingdom in the first quarter of next year, Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, said in an interview in Dubai. The fund plans to send a team to Iraq next month to negotiate a “staff-monitored program,” which would help unlock more aid for an economy contending with lower oil prices and a war with Islamic State militants.