Key Takeaways from Iraq’s 2015 Federal Budget

The passing of Iraq’s 2015 federal budget marked a key economic milestone for the country. At its core, the breakthrough represented a key political milestone given the failure of Iraq’s political blocs to reach agreement on last year’s budget.

Here are the key takeaways from the budget law:

– Total budget: $105 billion

– Total revenues: $83 billion

– Total revenues from oil: $69 billion – represents 83% of total revenues

– Based on average oil price of $56 per barrel at exports of 3.3m b/d including 250k b/d from Kurdistan Region and 300k b/d from Kirkuk (as part of the Baghdad-Erbil oil deal).

– Investment budget: $37 billion equates to 35% of total budget

– Deficit: $22 billion

Non-oil revenues include:

– 20% tax on mobile phone prepaid cards and internet

– 15% tax on private imports of automobiles

– 15% tax on airline tickets

– 300% tax on cigarettes and alcohol

Loans to cover deficit:

– $4.5 billion from IMF

– $1.8 billion SDR loan

– $2 billion from World Bank including $355m allocated to Ministry of Construction and Housing

– $500 million from Islamic Development Bank

Internally Displaced People

– $2.1 billion total – families paid on monthly basis

– Reconstruction fund for areas afflicted by ISIS: $440 million

Decentralization

– 17% of budget allocated to Kurdistan Region

– $3.4 billion for reconstruction and development projects in regions and provinces

– Allocation of 2 petrodollars per barrel for oil-producing provinces

– $458 million additional allocation to Basra for reconstruction