Former Parliamentary Finance Committee member Mu’in al-Kadhim warned that Iraq’s next government will face a major financial challenge, as current revenues are no longer enough to cover the country’s spending.
Speaking to dinaropinions.com, al-Kadhim said the government is responsible for paying salaries and support to a huge number of people. He explained that Iraq has 4.2 million government employees, 3 million retirees, and 3 million citizens receiving social welfare. Together, these payments require around 8.5 trillion dinars every month.
However, oil revenues are falling short. Al-Kadhim pointed out that income from oil exports—based on production of more than 3.2 million barrels per day—does not exceed 8 trillion dinars per month. That means oil income alone cannot fully cover salary obligations.
He stressed that this gap creates a serious problem for the next government. According to al-Kadhim, the only way forward is to increase non-oil revenues and cut unnecessary spending to restore balance between income and expenses.
