SULAIMANIYAH -- The Iraqi government may decide to issue $5 billion worth of government bonds to offset the country's looming budget deficit, Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Wednesday.
"We are thinking of borrowing through the issuance of government bonds worth $5 billion, to be sold outside of Iraq," Zebari told Reuters.
He said Baghdad would begin discussions regarding the bonds, which would be issued in U.S. dollars, with Citibank and Deutsche Bank on Thursday.
The country is anticipating a 25 trillion Iraqi dinar ($21.4 billion) deficit for this year, due in large part to the fall in global oil prices that began last June and ongoing military operations against the Islamic State (IS).
Baghdad has already issued 4 trillion Iraqi dinars ($3.5 billion) worth of one-year bonds domestically in an effort to generate funds for the oil ministry - a move that Zebari said would allow for payments to international oil companies to begin on April 1.
Last month, Zebari called for a total restructuring of Iraq's economy, saying that $18 billion from the Iraq Development Fund had been wasted since 2013 as a result of mismanagement.
The central government's financial woes have also called into question an oil accord signed with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in December that guarantees the Kurdistan region 17 percent of the federal budget.
original source: http://www.nrttv.com/en/iraq/2015/03/18/iraq-considers-bonds-to-offset-deficit