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Iraq proposes major spending hike under 2019 draft budget

In a dramatic shift away from recent austerity policies, Iraq's Cabinet has proposed a 27 percent increase in spending with a $111 billion draft budget.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi - who was oil minister at the time - speaks at an OPEC gathering in Vienna on June 4, 2015. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report)

Iraq's new Cabinet has proposed $24 billion in spending increases in a 2019 draft budget sent to Parliament, marking a dramatic shift away from the austerity budgets initiated when the price of oil crashed.

The budget outlines 132.3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($111.9 billion) in expenditures and a deficit of 26.7 trillion dinars ($22.6 billion), according to copies of the budget provided to Iraq Oil Report by multiple MPs.

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