Iraq faces oil supply disruptions as the second-largest producer in the Middle East
Shafaq News/ "Energy Intelligence" magazine reported on Wednesday that Iraq was the second-most vulnerable country to oil supply risks in the Gulf and the Middle East, following Kuwait, based on an analysis of the effects of the regional conflicts on the major oil and gas producers.
The magazine explained this by citing Iraq's high reliance on oil revenues and its fragile economic foundations.
Furthermore, the report mentioned that some of the Gulf economies were more dependent on oil and gas revenues than others, and that Iraq and Kuwait had the highest share of these revenues in their budgets, at 87 percent and 88 percent respectively.
The magazine also said that "Iraq faces turmoil in its economic foundations, while Baghdad has relatively good reserves in the central bank, backed by high oil revenues for 2022 and 2023. However, Iraq lacks a sovereign wealth fund, and struggles with high debts, a large fiscal deficit, and a low credit rating.
Notably, Iraq has a population of more than 45 million people, which is much larger than Kuwait's 4.3 million people."
