Iraqi parliament approves 2015 budget worth $105 bln
The budget foresees a deficit of $22 billion
Iraq's parliament approved abudget worth 119 trillion Iraqi dinars ($105 billion) on Thursday, made possible by improved ties between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region, but constrained by plunging global oil prices.
The budget, revised to trim the forecast for oil to $56 a barrel from $70 as originally assumed, foresees a deficit of 25
trillion dinars ($22 billion dollars).
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi fears lower oil revenues could hurt Iraq's military campaign against Islamic State
militants who swept across northern Iraq last summer, prompting U.S.-led air strikes.
The government of former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki failed to pass a 2014 budget after relations between Sunnis and
Kurds deteriorated.
($1 = 1,135.0000 Iraqi dinars)
