Iraq's Parliamentary Finance Committee has cautioned that lowering the estimated price of oil per barrel in the budget could negatively affect investment expenditure, given the reliance of government projects on oil revenues.
Committee member Jamal Kocher said the price adopted in the budget was determined by the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), noting that the estimate reflects the company's expertise in oil marketing and exports.
Kocher warned that a lower projected oil price could reduce anticipated revenues, potentially forcing the government to reconsider its spending plans and scale back allocations, particularly those earmarked for investment projects that underpin the country's development programmes.
