Statements by the Minister of Finance cause Iraqis to panic - After he expected the country to “bankrupt” after 10 years and lay off employees

Monday - Jumada Al-Awwal 23 1443 AH - December 27, 2021 AD Issue No. [15735]

Baghdad: Fadel Al-Nashmi

Although most Iraqis know perfectly well that their country produces almost nothing, with the exception of oil, whose revenues represent more than 95 percent of the country's annual budget funds, this did not prevent many from feeling extreme anger and panic over statements made by Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi. The country “bankrupted” after about 10 years and had to lay off employees working in the public sector due to its inability to finance their salaries as a result of the decline in the importance and prices of oil on that date. Allawi said in his previous statements, "The future of Iraq is linked organically or wholly with the oil sector, and there is no country in the world that resembles Iraq in this aspect, including the oil countries."

Allawi warned against Iraq's continued dependence on oil during the next ten years, and considered that Iraq "faces a real and dangerous threat during the next ten years as a result of global and qualitative fluctuations in the oil market and the government sector's dependence entirely on financing financial statements from oil revenues." "If this happens, the state will have to lay off large numbers of employees because it is not possible to pay them," he added.

Allawi's reference to the possibility of laying off large numbers of employees during the next ten years was met with criticism and fears of most Iraqi sectors, especially those linked to the government sector. The country will be exposed in the coming years if it continues to depend on oil revenues. For days, politicians, writers and activists have continued their sharp criticism of the Minister of Finance, seeing them as “irresponsible statements” that provoke people’s panic instead of finding solutions for them by government agencies and ministries. Perhaps what reinforced the feelings of deep resentment about the minister's statements was that they came on the eve of the celebrations of Easter and New Year's Day, and what this occasion dictated by spreading an atmosphere of hope and joy for a better tomorrow.

In this context, former MP Dhafer Al-Ani considered that "the statement of the Minister of Finance about the end of the oil era and the layoff of employees was not successful and needs clarification to reassure people." Al-Ani said in a tweet via Twitter that "scholars diagnose problems even if they are frightening, while statesmen have a duty to find solutions even if they are difficult."

Journalist and academic Raji Nasir strongly attacked the minister's statements, describing them as "miserable and disgusting." Nassir believed that "one of the government's primary responsibilities is to calm citizens' fears and spread hope through well-thought-out projects and programs, not to spread terror and turmoil within public opinion, which is primarily concerned about the many political, economic, security and social problems." It is believed that Minister Allawi's statements came in the context of "public opinion to impose new taxes, which is his project from the beginning, because he seeks urgently to implement the British tax model in Iraq."

On the other hand, economic expert Basem Antoine believes that “the purpose of this statement is to seek to disengage from the public sector and rely on the private and build projects, because the state has become burdened with this process, and it is very difficult to bear large and operational salaries that exceed 75 percent of the budget.” ».

Political and security analyst Fadel Abu Ragheef believes that the Minister of Finance's statements "show a dark future for Iraq's economy. He spoke in disappointing numbers, and waved the emptiness of the country’s coffers, posed problems and did not put solutions in front of them. His speech calls on the coming governments to seek help from the best economists in the world, and we need to change our economy from rentier to open, and from importers to producers.

Minister Allawi had previously made controversial public statements that brought him a lot of criticism and discounts, as he said a few months after taking over the Ministry of Finance portfolio in June 2020: "40 million Iraqis will have to submit to a strict austerity policy that may last two years." As a result of what he considered at the time shocks and serious difficulties faced by the Iraqi economy as a result of the drop in oil prices and the rise of the “Corona” pandemic.

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