The Governor of the Central Bank meets the President of the International Monetary Fund and the Executive Director of the Fund

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The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, His Excellency Mr. Ali Mohsen al-Alaq, met the President of the International Monetary Fund Ms. Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the annual meetings in Washington.

His Excellency the Governor discussed the need for Iraq to develop a technical program with the Fund that takes into account the country's security and economic conditions, especially the exceptional challenges that cost it dearly at various levels.

For her part, Mrs. Kristalina expressed her understanding regarding the situation in Iraq and the circumstances it went through, and supported the proposal of His Excellency the Governor of the necessity for having a program with the Fund to be as a determined reference for economic policies between the two parties.

Later, His Excellency the Governor met the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the two parties discussed the issues of financial stability in Iraq.

Mr. Mohieldin expressed the Fund's interest in providing the necessary support to Iraq in economic reform issues, in order to achieve a gradual increase in its non-oil revenues.

The two parties discussed the necessity of signing an agreement between Iraq and the Fund, the framework and content of which will be determined during the visit of the IMF team’s delegation to Baghdad.

The visit, which is scheduled to take place next month, aims at organizing the economic reform steps, financial performance programs, and the aspects in which Iraq requires technical and advisory support.

It is noteworthy that the Fund's experts stressed to the Iraqi delegation the importance of Iraq embarking on economic reforms in times of financial abundance, as oil revenues provide the possibility of support and flexibility for this program, especially those related to supporting the poorest categories and building financial buffers to counter fluctuations in global oil prices.

 

Iraqi Central Bank

Media Office

16 - April - 2023