What does it mean to achieve Iraq’s largest trade surplus? Government advisor answers
2023-09-04 05:14
What does it mean to achieve Iraqs largest trade surplus - Government advisor answersShafaq News/ The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, commented today, Monday, on Iraq achieving the largest trade surplus in 2022 over a period of ten years, and said that it achieves 3 main goals.
Saleh explained to Shafaq News Agency, “The importance of the increase in the surplus in the current account comes in relation to the gross domestic product in its positive role in strengthening the means of economic stability represented by the stability of the general level of prices, which are the country’s foreign reserves, which are a lever for stability and a tool in monetary policy to combat harmful inflationary activities.” in order to ensure the purchasing power of cash incomes.
He added, “The high percentage of the surplus, in the current account of the balance of payments to the gross domestic product, provides the financing capacity towards achieving sustainability in investment spending, which is the basis for targeted economic growth without expanding external borrowing.”
He pointed out that “the increase in the aforementioned surplus rate at the level of financial stability and balance is an important and major step towards achieving the so-called (fiscal discipline), which is based in its most important pillars on reducing external public debt and what requires a subsequent step required by fiscal policy in the field of imposing discipline, which is reducing the gap The deficit in the general budget and the movement towards a balanced budget, as reducing public debt and reducing the deficit are considered the most important pillars of financial discipline or what is called fiscal consolidation.
The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister concluded by saying, “The surplus proceeds in the current account of the balance of payments achieve three main goals, which are (price stability, stability, financial balance, and finally targeted economic growth).”
The trade balance indicates the differences in imports and exports of goods in the country during the year. If the value of its exports during a period exceeds the value of its imports, it is called a surplus in the trade balance. If the total value of imports exceeds the total value of exports, it is called a deficit in the trade balance.
According to the German company statista, Iraq achieved the highest trade surplus for goods in 2022 over the past ten years, as the surplus last year amounted to $53.54 billion, up by 64% from 2021, when the trade surplus for goods in that year reached $20.08 billion.
She explained that Iraq achieved a deficit in its trade balance for two years, the first in 2020, when the deficit amounted to 4.11 billion dollars, and the second in 2015, when the trade deficit amounted to 0.94 billion dollars.
And the report continued, while in 2019 the balance achieved a trade surplus amounting to 16.62 billion dollars, in 2018 the trade surplus reached 35.95 billion dollars, and the trade surplus in 2017 reached 15.1 billion dollars, indicating that the trade surplus in 2012 amounted to 35.39 billion dollars.
And Iraq had achieved during the past year (2022) financial revenues of more than 115 billion dollars from the export of crude oil, to be the highest in years, according to official figures announced by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.
According to those figures, the daily export rate reached 3,320,000 barrels, which is a total of one billion, 211,800,000 barrels for a full year.