Iraq’s 2024 budget took effect at the start of the year as part of a three-year spending plan endorsed by Parliament in mid-2023, a senior official has said.

Spending was forecast at around $153 billion in each year of the 2023-2025 period, the highest annual budget in real terms in Iraq’s history.

Iraqi officials have said the landmark three-year budget means that it only needs Parliament’s approval and that there would be no change in spending levels except in emergency or sharp fluctuations in oil prices.

“Parliament ratified a 3-year budget, and this means that the 2024 budget has taken shape in effect and spirit,” said Mudhar Saleh, financial adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani.

The budget, which officials said included allocations for nearly 7,000 projects, was based on average oil price of $70 a barrel and production of 3.5 million bpd.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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