The IMF’s approval of a $5.34bn stand-by loan arrangement (SBA) for Iraq follows “broadly satisfactory” efforts at economic reform. In approving the cash last week, the IMF recognizes the “acute…double shock” Iraq faces from the collapse in oil prices (and thus export revenues) and the war against IS.
But a 14 July 78-page review of Iraq’s economic performance under the first eight months of a staff monitored program which began last November, the IMF makes clear that much work remains: from corruption to money laundering to payments to foreign oil firms and relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). (CONTINUED - 1112 WORDS)
