Iraq: The war in the Middle East caused 60 billion dollars of damage to the country's economy

Fouad Hossein, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, announced that the US-Iranian war has damaged the country's economy by about 60 billion dollars. The disruption in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has put pressure on Iraq's oil exports and main incomes.

Ambassador Arjan-International Group: Fouad Hossein, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, announced that the conflict between the United States and Iran has caused about 60 billion dollars of damage to the country's economy. Restrictions on movement through the Strait of Hormuz made Iraq's oil exports and the country's main income difficult.

Before the start of the war, Iraq used to produce nearly four million barrels of oil per day and send about 3.5 million barrels of this amount to the world markets mainly through the Strait of Hormuz.

With Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq, which did not have enough possibilities to store oil, had to stop a large part of its production. Following this situation, limited exports continued from the Syrian land route by truck and through the Turkish pipeline.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq announced in a statement that Fouad Hossein, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart in Rome on Thursday, estimated the amount of damage caused to Iraq in the recent war between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to be around 60 billion dollars.

According to the announcement of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, after a significant drop in production, oil exports recovered somewhat last month and reached 2.6 million barrels per day from September 1st to 22nd. Oil revenues make up about 90% of Iraq's revenues.

At the same time as these developments, Iraq's foreign exchange reserves decreased by 20 billion dollars and the price of goods and services increased sharply; The situation that has made the economy of this country face a crisis.

Last week, the Central Bank of Iraq lowered the value of the dinar against the dollar for the first time in more than three years, with the aim of limiting the consequences of the crisis.

Iraq is heavily dependent on foreign currency from oil sales to finance imports, maintain the value of the dinar, and pay government employees' salaries and retirees' pensions.

Iraqi officials say that the country is trying to diversify its economy and wants to increase the share of non-oil revenues from 10% to 45% by 2037.

In line with the oil contract signed with Iran last year, Venezuela imports Iranian heavy crude oil to feed domestic refineries.

The Washington Post reported that Ukraine's stockpile of Patriot missiles has dwindled and the country now has only two interceptors to counter Russian missile attacks.

At the joint meeting of the government and parliament officials, Ghalibaf said that the pressure of war and sanctions should have the least effect on the lives of families and the country's economy should be prepared to deal with the sanctions.