Qubad Talabani: It's critical to make wise use of oil earnings

Economy 11:34 AM - 2023-03-18

Qubad Talabani at the Sulaimani Forum

Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, underlines that how and to which country the oil is sold is not as important as how its proceeds are used.

Qubad Talabani and Ali Alaq, the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, participated in the panel discussion on "Economic Policy, Dinar, and Development Challenges" on the second day of the Sulaimani Forum on March 16, 2023. They spoke about the problems with oil and potential solutions to the high dollar exchange rates versus the Iraqi dinar.

Qubad Talabani: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has differing opinions on the oil strategy 

Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan Region's deputy prime minister, discussed the budget and oil policy of the Kurdistan Region and said: "We must change the oil and gas policy, and while there are differing opinions within the KRG, we are in favor of reorganizing SOMO, making it a good partner of the Kurdistan Region, and creating a new system for oil and gas."

Qubad Talabani: It's critical to make wise use of oil earnings

The Deputy Prime Minister stated: "We don't care how or to what country oil is sold, but it is critical to use the revenue from the sale of oil well and offer better projects to the people with the budget and address any inquiries concerning the oil case."

"We must address the oil sector's issues, the Kurdistan Region's oil policy cannot continue with the issues it now faces, and the key issues between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad must be resolved," he said.

On discussing the significance of law for financial strategy, Qubad Talabani said: "The budget bill faces numerous problems and obstacles, and they need to be addressed."

"Patching up the issues between Erbil and Baghdad won't fix them; instead, it will just prolong finding a real solution and cause the issues to pile up, endangering the futures of all parties," he warned.

"We have been debating incorrectly for many years. It makes no difference who sells oil. "Whoever obtains the best deal and sells it the most transparently is what matters," Talabani added. "As a result, we'll have more income and a transparent, reasonable budget, allowing us to revitalize the economy of our country and offer services and welfare for our residents."

Central Bank Governor: We want to control the value of dinar

The panel also discussed the value of the Iraqi dinar, which has recently declined in value against the dollar.

"Iraq's economic growth is moving in the right direction, and we want to regulate the value of the dinar and we will not allow the dinar to devalue against the dollar, and we have recently taken measures as the central bank for that goal," stated Ali Alaq, Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, in response to the problem. 

"It is a very difficult task to prevent the smuggling of U.S. dollars, and the 2023 budget bill has a significant deficit," he said. "But, compared to 2014, the amount of dollars being cashed out to Iraq has increased significantly, and we are working to raise this amount."

He added: "We cannot pay salaries in dollars because we will lose the dinar's worth, but we are still working to stabilize the value of the dollar and put the needed precautions into place to stop dollar smuggling."



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