| 2008: MF praises progress in Iraq |
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January 17, 2008 The IMF predicts Iraq will produce an extra 200,000 barrels of oil a day in 2008. The IMF predicts Iraq will produce an extra 200,000 barrels of oil a day in 2008. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the latest political and economic progress in Iraq. It expects a 7 per cent rise in growth this year and a similar rise next year. The IMF's director for the Middle East, Mohsin Kahn, said that the international organisation expected Iraq's GDP to rise significantly, mainly because of high oil prices and increased production. The IMF predicted that Iraq would produce an extra 200,000 barrels of oil a day in 2008, bringing the total to 2.2 million barrels produced each day. The dramatic change in Iraq's fortunes is being put down to improvements in security and greater investments in the country's oil industry. Mr Khan praised Iraq's "very impressive" progress in economic reforms, including the strengthening of the central bank, the restructuring of two large public banks and a sharp curb on inflation, which had jumped to 65 per cent in 2006. Consumer prices in the January-November period last year rose by 4 per cent, he noted. The fund's 2008 program for Iraq is based on oil at $US55 to $US57 a barrel and "even on that basis they are fiscally sustainable," Mr Khan said. Iraq, struggling with recovery after a US-led invasion nearly five years ago, "still will continue to need aid, particularly in the security area," Mr Khan said. The IMF first approved credits for Iraq in December 2005 in the wake of the March 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Source: Reuters |