Dependence on extractives revenues in Iraq

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the heavy dependence of Iraq's economic development on the success of its oil sector makes the economy highly vulnerable to changing conditions in the global oil market, accounting for sharp swings in export revenues. Their report notes that, as oil revenue volatility is typically transmitted to the non-oil economy through fiscal policy, sound management of national finances is essential to mitigating this risk. Iraq in particular, with a large and growing population, must develop a self-sustaining and productive economy beyond the oil sector, a task that the IEA perceives as complicated by the scale of the country's oil revenues.

Revenue Watch Institute reports that in In 2010 Iraq accumulated over $51.4 billion in oil revenues, with oil accounting for over 75 percent of GDP and almost 90 percent of government revenues.

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