Iraq Selected Issues

This Selected Issues paper discusses the choice and design of rules for Iraq, guided by fiscal policy priorities and the country’s institutional capacity. A ceiling on current spending is proposed as a fiscal rule that would be simple and easy to monitor and support efforts to create space for scali...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Corporate Author: International Monetary Fund Middle East and Central Asia Dept
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2019
Series:IMF Staff Country Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02953nmm a2200541 u 4500
001 EB001892650
003 EBX01000000000000001055797
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 200301 ||| eng
020 |a 9781513508917 
245 0 0 |a Iraq  |b Selected Issues 
260 |a Washington, D.C.  |b International Monetary Fund  |c 2019 
300 |a 48 pages 
651 4 |a Iraq 
653 |a National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: Infrastructures 
653 |a Energy: Demand and Supply 
653 |a Capital investments 
653 |a Oil prices 
653 |a Finance 
653 |a Public finance & taxation 
653 |a Industries: Financial Services 
653 |a Monetary economics 
653 |a Fiscal Policy 
653 |a Fiscal policy 
653 |a Other Public Investment and Capital Stock 
653 |a Financial inclusion 
653 |a National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General 
653 |a Expenditure 
653 |a Financial markets 
653 |a Banks and Banking 
653 |a Expenditures, Public 
653 |a Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy 
653 |a Financial services industry 
653 |a Capital spending 
653 |a Macroeconomics 
653 |a Prices 
653 |a Banking 
653 |a Public Finance 
653 |a Finance: General 
710 2 |a International Monetary Fund  |b Middle East and Central Asia Dept 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b IMF  |a International Monetary Fund 
490 0 |a IMF Staff Country Reports 
028 5 0 |a 10.5089/9781513508917.002 
856 4 0 |u https://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2019/249/002.2019.issue-249-en.xml?cid=48528-com-dsp-marc  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a This Selected Issues paper discusses the choice and design of rules for Iraq, guided by fiscal policy priorities and the country’s institutional capacity. A ceiling on current spending is proposed as a fiscal rule that would be simple and easy to monitor and support efforts to create space for scaling up capital expenditure, build fiscal buffers to reduce fiscal policy procyclicality, and help secure debt sustainability. A strong policy framework can help Iraq manage the challenges arising from its heavy dependence on volatile oil revenues. The procyclicality of fiscal policy has led to short-term economic volatility and hindered long term development. Important fiscal institutions such as fiscal rules, stabilization funds, and fiscal responsibility laws that exist in many resource-rich countries are lacking in Iraq. Moving to a risk- and rules-based approach can be part of the new policy framework and would be timely. The two main building blocks of this approach involve anchoring fiscal policy on maintaining adequate fiscal buffers, and introducing operational fiscal rules designed to achieve this target for buffers and protect capital expenditure