Iraq, the IMF and the Oil Dilemma

The International Monetary Fund announced in July that it has approved a three-year, $5.34 billion loan for Iraq under the Stand-By Arrangement facility, which it said was focused on “implementing economic and financial policies to help the country cope with lower oil prices and ensure debt sustainability.” The promised financial assistance was made conditional on—among other things—Baghdad settling all debts to international oil companies (IOCs) without adding new debts. To satisfy that…

KRG Budget Calculation

There is often confusion and misunderstanding when analysts and journalists, especially among Kurdistan region observers, try to decipher how the region’s share of the federal budget is calculated. The budget itself is a public document. Being a law ratified by the Iraqi Parliament, it is published annually in the official gazette. However, the document contains a lot of summaries and nuances that are always subject to misunderstanding unless one has…

Thamir Al-Ghadhban

The Chairman of the steering committee that formulated Iraq’s first Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES) and head of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission (PMAC), Thamir Al-Ghadhban, explains in an interview in Baghdad with Ruba Husari, editor of Iraq Oil Forum, the formulation, the dynamics and the political risks impacting the strategy. Q: What is the Integrated National Energy Strategy and how did it come about? A: When we say a strategy…

Strategizing Energy

Iraq’s first long term energy strategy launched in Baghdad June 12, is national in its dimension and impact and integrated in its coverage of all aspects of energy production and usage. The Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES), made up of a set of national policy objectives for the country and backed by a plan for the required policy (investment) commitments, infrastructure developments and institutional reforms, has been adopted by the…