World Bank to lend $200M to Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – On Tuesday, the Iraq Ministry of Finance announced on its official website that the World Bank has approved to lend an additional $200 million to Iraq for the purpose of reconstructing the areas liberated from the Islamic State (IS).

The Iraqi Minister of Finance, Hoshiyar Zebari, met with the World Bank representative Robert Bou Jaoude in Baghdad and discussed creating effective, cooperative relationships between the World Bank and the Federal government of Iraq.  
 
Zebari revealed that the amount of loans from the World Bank to Iraq reached one billion and nine hundred US dollars in 2015. These loans were allocated into rebuilding the IS-destroyed regions and gas projects in the country. 

The World Bank revealed that it will support the budget development policy for Iraq in 2016. Both Zebari and Bou Jaoude emphasized on using this aid for fundamental sectors within the country, specifically by creating stability in Iraq and bringing back the Iraqi displaced people to their recently liberated lands.

Oil prices decreased severely since the second half of 2014 causing the war-torn Iraq oil export to decline sharply. The World Bank loans aim to help the heavily oil-dependent Iraqi economy, especially after regaining control of its infrastructure and services devastated by IS insurgents.

In addition, over three million Internally Displaced People as well as some 250,000 Syrian refugees who escaped to Iraq has affected the economy of the country more than ever.