IMF optimistic of Iraq’s economic future

Iraqi delegation ended its negotiations with both International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in the framework of Spring meetings held during the recent days in Washington.

According to a statement issued by Iraq’s Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, the Iraqi delegation agreed with IMF Representative for the Middle East Christian Goose to resume the meetings and coordination between the Iraqi government and international economic institutions to find the ways to contain the current economic crisis witnessed in the country.

The meeting was attended by a large number of Iraqi officials in addition to Iraq’s Ambassador to Washington Faried Mustafa. The Iraqi officials stressed the need for gaining international support during the current period in the light of the major challenges facing the country, including the current fight against extremists in Mousl and other Iraqi cities.

On his hand, Goose expressed his optimism over the level of understanding and coordination between the Iraqi government on one hand and international institutions on the other hand, praising the efforts exerted by the Iraqi government to contain the economic problems witnessed in the country.

The international official stressed that the two parties intend to resume their steps to increase coordination during the coming period to resolve the financial problems imposed by the current war against extremists in Iraq. He stressed that the fight witnessed in Mousl against ISIS extremist group left negative repercussions on the Iraqi economy.

During the meetings, World Bank expressed its support for the economic reforms witnessed in Iraq through using integrated financial management system, as the Iraqi delegation headed by Iraq’s Minister of Finance Abdel Raziq Al Eissa resumes its meeting with a delegation from the World Bank. The meeting comes in the framework of the current spring meeting of International Monetary Fund and World Bank held in Washington.

Representatives of World Bank praised the economic reforms, saying that such reforms are considered major necessity to improve the economic situation and to pave the way for the establishment of Integrated financial management system on the federal and local levels.

The World Bank’s delegation said that Iraq has made significant progress in the field of money laundering and financing of armed groups. It added, “The country has made significant progress over the last two years in the field of money laundering and the financing of terrorism through the issuance of a special law No. 39 of the year 2015.”

The international delegation added the banks should continue to support and amend the procedures, policies and human resources of the compliance standard, to reach a high level of more than (65%) of the standard to ensure acceptance of the bank's classification and continuity of participation in the window in the next review.