OPEC oil producer Iraq has allocated large funds in its oil-reliant three-year budget to projects which have not been completed due to cash shortages and other reasons, an Iraqi official was reported on Wednesday as saying.

Allocations for those projects are ready after the 2023 state budget went into effect on Tuesday following Parliament’s endorsement in June, said Abdul Zahra Hindawi, a spokesman for the Planning Ministry.

Quoted by Baghdad Alyoum news agency, Hindawi said capital spending in the three-year budget would focus on the completion of services and infrastructure projects, including houses, hospitals, schools, power and sewerage.

“Priority will be given to unfinished projects, which have a high execution rate…there are large financial allocations for those projects within the investment programme in the budget…we will work to complete a large number of those projects in the next period,” he added.

Officials have said there are more than 1,000 stalled large projects in Iraq due to the war, cash shortages, mismanagement and delays by contractors.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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