Iraq has slashed stalled projects by nearly 40 percent over the past few years to reach a value of around 24 trillion Iraqi dinars ($18 billion), an official was quoted on Thursday as saying.

The OPEC member now has around 1,400 stalled major projects, which have stopped over the past years due to cash shortages, political upheavals, internal wars and COVID-19 pandemic, Planning Ministry Undersecretary Maher Jouhan said.

He told Aliqtisad News agency that many of the stalled projects were restarted with the allocation of the needed funds. 

Iraq officials said this year that a three-year budget approved in June would focus on tackling faltering projects.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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