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H16462

Headlines : International

Summary:

The IMF program in Iraq has now been implemented – a move intended to ensure U.S. control of Iraqi oil reserves. As conditions for extending loans to the , the IMF has used its power to push for an end to food and fuel subsidies for the Iraqi people, and a focus on foreign investment and increased oil production.

Mohsin Khan, the IMF’s director for the Middle East, said Iraqi oil production was forecast to climb by 200,000 barrels per day to 2.2 million barrels a day in 2008. Who will end up controlling that oil? So far, the plan is still to hand control over to U.S. and British oil corporations.

[Posted By neurolingo]

By Al Jazeera
Republished from Al Jazeera

The IMF has delivered a typical conditional loan package to Iraq

Iraq’s economy is expected to boom in the coming year, despite political and security problems, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.

Economic reforms, such as strengthening the central bank, curbing inflation and restructuring two large public funds had contributed to the progress, the IMF said on Wednesday. Mohsin Khan, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, said: “There was an improvement in economic activity” in the second half of the year.

He said Iraqi gross domestic product (GDP) will see a seven per cent growth in 2009.
The fund expects a “significant jump in growth” as oil production increases and retail services improve.

However, Iraq, which is struggling to recover after a US-led invasion nearly five years ago, “will continue to need aid, particularly in the security area”, Khan said.

Oil production accounts for 70 per cent of the country’s GDP activity.

The IMF predicts that Iraq will produce an extra 200,000 barrels per day in 2008, bringing the country’s daily output to 2.2 million barrels.

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