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Donors pledge $33 bn to Iraq
Donors have pledged $33 billion in reconstruction aid to Iraq, a senior Spanish minister told an international Iraq donors' conference yesterday. "Total financial resources are $33 billion," Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Rodrigo Rato told the closing session of the conference in Madrid. The figure appeared to include $20 billion pledged to Iraq by the United States before the donors' conference began on Thursday but does not include aid in kind or export credits.
| Oh. So that makes it $13b. Guess it's better than nothing. Quite a bit better than noting, in fact... |
The conference organisers said the $33 billion pledged represented a great success. But it still fell short of the estimated $56 billion Iraq's Governing Council assesses it needs by 2007. The main non-US donors include Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for their part, said they would provide loans of up to $9.25 billion over the next three to five years to help stabilise Iraq's economy, which has been shattered by wars, 20 years of rule under Saddam Hussein and 13 years of international sanctions. Japan confirmed it would pledge $5 billion in grants and loans by 2007 â the second biggest contribution after the United States â while Saudi Arabia offered $1billion and Kuwait put in $1.5 billion. The pledges delighted Iraqi government spokesman Adel Abdul Mehdi. "Iraq today is being born again. It's being reborn. A new era is blossoming today," Mehdi told the conference yesterday evening. World Bank and UN economists put Iraq's needs by 2007 at $36 billion. Iraq's US-installed interim Governing Council estimates a further $20 billion are needed for security, the oil sector and the environment. That takes the overall requirement to a mammoth $56 billion by 2007 â around $18 billion next year alone. But most of the aid offered in Madrid, which officials in the US delegation had earlier said would amount to $18.5 billion, is in loans rather than grants and a proportion has already been spent. Nonetheless, US Treasury Secretary John Snow was at pains to insist: "Prompt, generous donations today will help the Iraqi economy regain its feet, reducing the total cost to donors and Iraqis alike."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-10-25 |
