By John Lee. An Iraqi court has ruled that Hoshyar Zebari is not eligible to run for the position of President. The former foreign minister, who had been accused by some of corruption, said he respected the judiciary's decision, but described it as an injustice. According to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), there are currently […]
By John Lee. Iraq’s former Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari has lost an appeal at the country's federal court against his removal as minister by the parliament. Rudaw reports that the 62-year-old former minister lost his appeal 6 to 3 votes on Tuesday. The Iraqi parliament withdrew confidence from Zebari in September, in a move that […]
By Omar Sattarfor Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. What's the status of IMF loan as Iraq dismisses finance minister? Prior to his dismissal Sept. 21, Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari ran successful negotiations with international banks to obtain […]
By John Lee. Following the dismissal of Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it remains committed to working with Iraq on implementing a $5.34 billion loan. Bloomberg quotes IMF mission chief Christian Josz as saying that the Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) was approved in July, “and we are committed to […]
By John Lee. Iraq’s finance minister, Hoshyar Zebari (pictured), has been voted out of office by the country’s parliament on Wednesday. Lawmakers voted 158 to 77 against Zebari, after a parliamentary inquiry last month into charges of corruption and mismanagement of public funds. Zebari, a senior Kurdish official who previously served as foreign minister, denies all […]
By John Lee. Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari has shown The Financial Times documents that appear to be part of a probe by Iraq's parliamentary finance committee, purporting to show how an individual close to the previous government used currency auctions to siphon $6.4 billion from the state. A spokesperson for former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki […]
By John Lee. The Financial Times reports that Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) is fighting back against accusations of financial mismanagement by digging out documents that he claims reveal the true extent of corruption in the public sector. “I’ve started my campaign — the counterattack", he said. "I didn’t want to galvanise it. But […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) and the IMF's Christian Josz (head of the IMF Iraq mission) have announced a standby loan for Iraq, following weeks of negotiations in Jordan. The loan is conditional on Iraq taking certain measures, for example, complying with an IMF monitoring scheme to reduce public sector expenditure and make […]
By Mustafa al Kadhimi for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Iraq Business News. On Dec. 23, Iraq's Cabinet approved and submitted the 2015 federal budget to parliament. This development occurred following months of study to review and reduce the initial budget’s large […]
By John Lee. Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) has taken a brutally realistic stance on the passing of Iraq's 2015 budget, Reuters reports. Zebari has previously been frank about the challenges Iraq faces and the war economy situation the country is now in. The Finance Minister noted how, "The strategy was to present a real budget - […]
By John Lee. Baghdad and Erbil have reached an agreement resolving the long-running dispute over oil exports and budget payments. Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil would be sent to the Iraqi oil ministry. In return, the Kurds will receive their 17% share of the national budget. The […]
By John Lee. Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he will soon present his proposed 2015 budget to Cabinet, based on an oil price of $70 per barrel. The Minister said: “We are proposing a budget of $100 billion. This is projected ... “We have based our projections on about $70 a barrel. This could fluctuate. […]
