Iraq sends IMF 'emergency assistance' request amid ailing economy
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said late Sunday it was engaged in talks with Iraq over the economically ailing Middle Eastern nation's emergency financial assistance request.
Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi previously confirmed in a statement to Bloomberg News that Baghdad was in talks with the IMF to obtain a $ 6 billion loan.
"The Iraqi authorities have requested emergency assistance under the Rapid Financing Instrument, in a long-term arrangement, to support the planned economic reforms," said a representative for the IMF, an international financial institution, in a statement, according to Reuters.
"Discussions are ongoing regarding the authorities' request for emergency assistance," the official added.
The IMF Rapid Financing Instrument provides rapid financial assistance and is available to all member countries facing an urgent balance of payments.
Financial assistance is provided according to the inquiry request without the need for a full program or review, according to the International Monetary Fund's website.
On Sunday, Allawi said that Iraq might request an additional $ 4 billion in low-cost loans through another program linked to government reforms.
Iraq devalued its currency (Dinar) last month after a collapse in global oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic, on top of decades of financial mismanagement and corruption, worsened the country’s economic woes.
Allawi told Bloomberg that Iraq had also planned other types of projects to help bridge the budget deficit. Once the spending plan is approved, the government will move to issue $ 5 billion in domestic bonds to broaden its financial base.
On Monday, the statistics bureau of Iraq’s Nineveh province reported that the province’s population living below the poverty line province rose from 23 percent in 2019 to 38 percent in 2020.
Nineveh is inhabited by more than 3.5 million people, the second-largest province in Iraq after Baghdad in terms of population, with a stagnant political process inhibiting its recovery from the so-called Islamic State’s invasion in 2014 and liberation three years later.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said that nearly 5 million Iraqis are below the poverty line due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Editing by Khrush Najari