The Iraqi Finance Ministry has called on the other ministries to set out how much money they will need in 2010 by 15 September ahead of a parliamentary debate.

The 2010 federal budget is based on an oil price of $60 and assumes that Iraq will export an average of 2.2 million barrels per day.

The government has said it plans to submit the budget for parliamentary approval by October (MEED 10:8:09).

Iraq has suffered from a budget deficit of about $20bn this year following the collapse in oil prices during the second half of 2008.

In November 2008, the government set the 2009 budget at $80bn, but it slashed the sum to $58bn by the time parliament approved the bill in March.