Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, Mohamed Al-Daraji, the Technical Advisorto the Iraqi Prime Minister, stated that Iraq's external loans have exceeded $8billion, emphasizing the government's efforts to alleviate pressure on thedinar exchange rate by diversifying transactions in other currencies.
During his participation in a panel discussion titled “Making IraqInvestable: Challenges and Opportunities” on the sidelines of the Middle EastResearch Institute (MERI) forum held in Erbil, the capital of the KurdistanRegion, Al-Daraji noted that Iraq's loans amounted to $8.7 billion, a smallfigure compared to the country's substantial revenues.
"Wehave the opportunities and capacity to take loans; however, our focus is onattracting traders and businessmen to invest," he clarified.
Al-Daraji further noted that the Iraqi Parliament's recentlyapproved Sovereign Loan Law for financing industrial projects will help developthe industry and activate the private sector, anticipating that “within tenyears, the private sector will economically catch up with the internationalcommunity and build a reputation strong enough for global banks to finance itsprojects.”
"We will reduce the outflow of petrodollars and lessenpressure on the dinar to control the exchange rate by diversifying transactionsin various currencies, including the euro," he confirmed.