By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : Iraq is doing its best to settle its foreign debt, said Iraq’s Finance Minister Baqer Al-Zubaidi on Wednesday.
During an Iraqi-US economic forum, Al-Zubaidi said in coordination with Iraq’s central bank, his ministry was prioritizing the matter of settling these debts.
Recently, Iraq signed an agreement with all 19 members of Paris Club to lower foreign debt, with the latest accord being with Russia who wrote off over 90 percent of Iraq’s debt at a value of about USD 12.9 billion, he explained.
So far, Iraq has settled its debt to 37 nations outside the Paris Club, with Bulgaria being the latest country as it has lowered the debt by about 90 percent, he added.
Now, there are very few nations in which Iraq is indebted to and hopefully they will be settled during this year, he noted.
Al-Zubaidi hoped to settle Iraq’s debt to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia through political channels with “the assistance of friends.”
As for the Iraqi private sector’s debts, he said about 96 percent, at a value of about USD 19 billion, were settled so far and the Iraqi government seeks to buyout the remaining four percent as a measure of settlement.