BAGHDAD — Prior to his dismissal Sept. 21, Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari ran successful negotiations with international banks to obtain financial support for Iraq. His last achievement was a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that was secured during negotiations on Sept. 9.
These second round of negotiations between the Iraqi government and the IMF took place in the Jordanian capital Amman. The loan addresses the huge deficit in the 2016-17 fiscal budget due to lower oil prices; however, mystery still surrounds the amount of money that Iraq will have to pay in interest and the conditions imposed by the IMF on the Iraqi government.