October 8, 2026
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Ali Al-Zaidi, confirmed that the national economy is going through a state of “siege” as a result of the cessation of oil exports and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, noting that the government assumed responsibility amid serious financial challenges.
Al-Zaidi stated, in a speech before Parliament, reported by the Iraqi News Agency “INA”, that the size of the public debt amounted to more than 138.7 billion dollars (equivalent to 208 trillion dinars) when he took over his duties, pointing out that the public treasury needs to provide 6.7 billion dollars (10 trillion dinars) per month to meet obligations, stressing the government’s success in securing employee salaries despite the severity of the crisis.
The Prime Minister explained that the government faced three critical options to deal with the financial crisis: “compulsory saving and leaving employees hostage to promises, or distributing salaries every 45 days, or resorting to borrowing and further flooding the country with new debts while it is already burdened with them.” He also touched on the dollar exchange rate file, showing that the previous price difference was in favor of speculators.
With regard to development and service projects, Al-Zaidi announced the progress of implementing the project to distribute one million residential plots of land and establish new cities, revealing that the foundation stone for residential plot projects in the governorates of Karbala, Najaf and Nineveh will be laid next Saturday.
In conclusion, the Prime Minister indicated that next month will witness a doubling of the disbursement of financial dues to farmers and contractors.
