Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government is working on presenting an economic reform plan in the coming days, at a time when Iraq faces complex economic crises most notably related to the need to secure $3.6 billion per month in salaries for about 6.5 million employees and retirees, a government source told Al-Monitor.

Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi was supposed to present the economic reform proposal to the House of Representatives on Sept. 15, but he did not, arguing that he is awaiting the approval of the domestic and foreign borrowing law. He promised to submit the proposal by the end of this month.

An Iraqi government source told Al-Monitor, “Ali Allawi, Iraq’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance, is working on the economic reform proposal with the help of independent experts. We believe that Iraq is in constant need of economic reform, and this is not easy, especially considering the current circumstances. However, these challenges do not necessarily impede reform. When our economy was in good shape and we were selling oil at a price of $120, there was no reform. On the contrary, corruption was rampant. Therefore, these challenges may impose economic reform on everyone.”

He added, “The government cannot create in a short period of time new financial resources other than oil, so it is working to fully control the border crossings to support the state budget. Also, Iraq is controlled by a political class that poses a challenge to reform, so the government needs independent decisions that do not necessarily go through the Iraqi parliament.”