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The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide 32 soft-term loans to Iraq with a total value of 860 billion Japanese yen ($6.3 billion) to fund projects in infrastructure and other sectors, an Iraq news network said on Monday.
The Japanese government agency has also committed to co-finance the Basra oil refinery upgrading project at a cost of nearly $4 billion, Aliqtisad News network said.
The network quoted Ando Naoki, head of the Middle East and Europe Department at Jica as telling the Iraqi official gazette that the 32 loans would be used in funding several projects in Iraq including the $200-million Khor Zubair port in the Southern port of Basra.
“JICA will extend those loans to fund many projects in infrastructure…they cover power, water, transport besides services, education, health and water,” Naoki said without making clear whether a loan agreement has been finalised with Baghdad.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
