The Central Bank of Iraq announced on Sunday that the country’s domestic public debt went up by the end of September 2025 — mainly because of an increase in treasury bond holdings.
According to official data reviewed by IraqiNews.com, Iraq’s domestic debt hit 90.615 trillion dinars at the end of September. That’s a small rise of 0.47% compared to August, when it stood at 90.165 trillion dinars.
But the bigger picture shows a stronger trend. The debt is now 9.11% higher than in 2024, when it was 83.05 trillion dinars, and 28% higher than in 2023, when it was around 70.56 trillion dinars.
So, what’s behind this jump?
The Central Bank says the main reason is a one-trillion-dinar increase in discounted treasury bills, which went up from 49.486 trillion dinars in August to 50.486 trillion dinars in September.
At the same time, loans from financial institutions slightly dropped — from 14.416 trillion dinars to 14.366 trillion dinars. The Ministry of Finance’s debt also went down from 2.03 trillion to about 1.5 trillion dinars.
Economic experts say this growing domestic debt shows how much the government still depends on internal borrowing to fund its spending and development projects. Iraq is trying to balance its public finances and keep liquidity stable, but that effort often means turning to domestic loans and treasury bills for support.
In simple terms, Iraq is borrowing more from within to keep its economy moving — a move that helps with short-term funding but also adds pressure to manage the rising debt in the long run.
