MP Jamal al-Mohamedawi said on Thursday that Iraq's 2019
federal budget contained a "strange" article giving the Minister of
Finance the responsibility to issue guarantees to the Khairat al-Abar company, which is specialized
in oil and gas services.
The sovereign guarantees would be granted for the
company for a hydrogenation and benzene improvement project.
Mohamedawi condemned granting such guarantees to a
company by name, asserting that this case affirms the fact that unjustified and
large profits are offered to certain people, which is incompatible with the
philosophy of investment that is supposed to contribute to boosting the
economy, benefiting the country and providing job opportunities.
The Iraqi parliament approved the 2019
state budget after an hours-long vote early on Thursday.
The approval ends weeks of deadlock over allocations to different provinces and privatization of state projects.
The budget projected oil exports of 3.88 million barrels per day (bpd),
up from 3.8 million bpd for
the previous year, at a price of $56 per barrel.
