The proposed 2019 budget law brought into sharp focus systemic failures in the crafting of successive Iraqi governments’ economic policy since 2003. For years, the structural imbalance between current and investment expenditure has undermined the Iraqi economy and is the primary reason why the country is vulnerable to external shocks - especially to shifts in the global price of oil. This year’s proposed budget perpetuates the same flaws. The lack of investment spending, particularly for non-oil infrastructure projects, is particularly concerning given that Iraq has recently emerged from the war against ISIS. Despite the promises of the political elite to reconstruct and rebuild Mosul and other affected cities and regions, the numbers indicate otherwise.
To read the full text of Ahmed Tabaqchali's latest report, "Iraq's Investment Spending Deficit: An Analysis of Chronic Failures," click here or on the image below.
