Austerity in sight with the 2021 finance law
Moustafa al-Kazimi, Iraqi Prime Minister, October 20, 2020. AP - Stefanie Loos
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2 min
Iraq is not spared by the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.
For three years the population had already denounced in the streets the misery in which the inhabitants were forced to live.
The Prime Minister, invested last May after the departure of his predecessor, therefore presented the financing law for 2021 under the sign of austerity.
In an attempt to revive the country's economy, he is also planning a devaluation of the dollar, a measure that could rekindle the anger in the streets.
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Before the appearance of Covid-19, Iraqis were already denouncing the misery in which they were forced to live in a country under permanent reconstruction.
And then the pandemic arrived, oil prices fell, Iraq sank a little lower still into the doldrums.
► Read also:
Iraq: the coronavirus, a crisis which is added to other crises
So for the year 2021, Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi says he wants to protect the poorest while adopting an inevitable austerity policy.
For example, he announced the 40% reduction in his own salary as well as that of the President and Speaker of Parliament.
But this measure goes almost unnoticed next to the announced devaluation of the Iraqi dinar in an economy very dependent on the dollar.
Iraq imports 80% of its consumer goods.
Inflation will therefore be inevitable.
Further north, in Kurdistan, the demonstrators in recent weeks were expecting aid from Baghdad in exchange for Kurdish oil from this same finance law.
It seems that the Kurdish and Iraqi authorities have not reached a precise agreement.
From north to south in Iraq, people are preparing for a new year of survival.
Many are already calling for the revival of massive demonstrations.
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Iraq
Finance