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Cabinet cuts 2017 budget, boosts oil expectations

Iraq’s Council of Ministers followed through on IMF recommendations to decrease spending and lean more on oil sector revenue.
Members of Parliament gather to vote on Iraq's new government in Baghdad on Sept. 8, 2014. (THAIER AL-SUDANI/Reuters)

Iraq has increased its planned oil exports and projected prices for 2017 while cutting expenditures in its draft budget, likely keeping the country on track to unlock billions of dollars of loan support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during its fiscal crisis.

The decision Tuesday by the Council of Ministers comes a week after Iraq's Parliament ousted Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the main IMF negotiator, in a vote of no confidence, and suggests the government will make the painful changes needed to keep a vital reform program on track without him.

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