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Cash-Strapped Iraq in Talks With IMF on $6 Billion Loan Package

  • Finance Minister says budget deficit can shrink 25% this year
  • Higher oil revenue will narrow spending gap, Allawi says
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Photographer: Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images

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Iraq is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $6 billion loan to prop up its ailing economy, Finance Minister Ali Allawi said in an interview in Baghdad.

OPEC’s second-largest producer forecasts a 2021 budget deficit of 71 trillion dinars ($49 billion). Once the spending plan is approved by parliament, Iraq can apply for $2 billion in quick financing from a special IMF mechanism set up to help Covid-battered economies, Allawi said.