Prime Minister's Advisor Explains Details of "Bridge Borrowing"
Prime Minister's Advisor Explains Details of "Bridge Borrowing"
The Prime Minister's Advisor, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained today, Thursday, the details of "bridge borrowing", while indicating that more than 50% of the domestic debt is concentrated in the investment portfolio of the Central Bank.
Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Historically, government borrowing through treasury transfers is a type of short-term borrowing from the banking market that British public finance has adopted since the reign of Queen Victoria."
He added that "this type of borrowing was done for limited periods not exceeding weeks or financial quarters, and is known as (bridge borrowing), as it aims to bridge the temporary deficit gap resulting from the slowdown in revenues compared to actual expenditures."
He pointed out that "due to monthly financial obligations, public finance may resort to issuing treasury transfers as a financing tool to bridge the temporary deficit in the budget until cash flow stabilizes in the next period of the fiscal year."
He added that "in light of the fluctuations in the oil revenue cycle on the general budget over the past ten years, the government was forced to borrow multiple and accumulated, which led to an increase in expenditures in three stages: the first during the war on ISIS terrorism, the second due to the economic closure caused by the pandemic, and finally the increase in expenditures in the areas of reconstruction and implementation of suspended projects."
He added that "these circumstances resulted in the accumulation of domestic public debt, part of which was borne by government banks, as more than half of it was deducted from the Central Bank of Iraq through open market operations."
He stressed that "this necessitated a complementary monetary issuance that led to a significant increase in the monetary mass, especially since the domestic public debt, amounting to 82 trillion dinars, is still mostly within the government financial and banking system, more than 50% of this debt is concentrated in the investment portfolio of the Central Bank."
He added, "On the positive side, this debt is covered by foreign currency by more than 100%, which reflects a high level of monetary stability, as the annual inflation growth rate did not exceed 3%."
He added that "despite these challenges, both the monetary and fiscal authorities seek continuous consultation in order to gradually extinguish the domestic debt," stressing that "the government relies on enhancing financial sustainability by reducing the public debt balance annually and reducing the annual budget deficit to a percentage not exceeding 3% of the gross domestic product."
He concluded that "this approach is part of a fiscal policy aimed at providing financing and protecting economic activity, which contributes to achieving stability and sustainable economic growth through coordination between fiscal and monetary policies." link