Iraq’s Central Bank plans to raise $2bn through the global bond markets next year to help finance its expected budget deficit.

According to Faisal al-Haimus, chairman and acting CEO of Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), the sale will be managed by a consortium of Germany's Deutsche Bank, the US' Citigroup and JPMorgan, and TBI, the same group that managed the country’s first $1bn eurobond sale in August.

Iraq expects to incur an $8.5bn budget deficit in 2017, which is less than half of its initial forecast.

The planned sale was confirmed jointly by Al-Haimus and Ali al-Alaq, Iraq Central Bank governor, during the opening of TBI’s representative office at Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) on 26 November.

MEED understands the bank will be exploring options to open a fully fledged branch in the UAE over the next six to nine months.

“Opening a representative office here … will enable us to better interact with our correspondent banks, 80 of which are present in ADGM and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC),” Al-Haimus tells MEED. “It is a good opportunity for us to collaborate and continue to interact with them on potential opportunities and also for our staff to be able to obtain experience on international banking outside of Iraq.”

Al-Haimus confirmed that they have also launched an application to open a branch in Saudi Arabia.

TBI was set up by the Finance Ministry, in conjunction with a foreign consortium led by JPMorgan, as a 100 per cent state-owned entity to facilitate Iraq’s local and international trade in 2003.

TBI offers retail and corporate banking, including the provision of letters of credit (LoC), as well as treasury services.