Iraq approves $41b budget

[Robbien]

Feb 9, 2007

Iraq's parliament has approved the budget for 2007, which sets a spending forecast of $41 billion and a deficit of $7.14 billion.

Total revenues are projected at $33.3 billion, largely from oil exports, the Arab country's main sources of revenue. The figure is based on average exports of 1.7 million bpd from Iraq's southern oil terminals with a price of $50 a barrel.

Ayad al-Samarrai, who heads the parliament's financial committee and who read the final draft before it was approved, said the $7.14 billion deficit would be covered through surplus funds from 2006.

The budget assumed an exchange rate of 1,260 dinars to the dollar.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/983270

[denverbill]

1. More than a little ironic. We are spending 5 times that amount to give them 'security'. n/t

[Parche]

2. billions

They have at least 12billion so far....that they cant find

[ohio2007]

3. How much of those billions will be siphoned off in

the normal old fashioned Iraqi bureaucratic way of the past ?

This budget distribution will be a real test for the new bean counters.