2017 draft Iraq budget may be based on $35/barrel oil price

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a news conference that Iraq may base its 2017 budget on $35/barrel oil prices. Reuters photo by Essam Al-Sudani.

Iraq is the second-largest oil producer

BAGHDAD, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Iraq may base its public budget for 2017 on an oil price of $35 per barrel, about the same level as this year, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a news conference on Tuesday in Baghdad.

Iraq, which depends on oil sales for 95 percent of its public spending, lowered this year its crude price assumption to about $32 a barrel from an initial forecast of $45 a barrel.

The price assumption for 2017 could still change by parliament which has to approve it, a spokesman of Abadi said separately after the press conference.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia with an output of 4.6 million barrels per day.

Iraq sells its crude at a discount to international oil prices that are hovering now at about $50 a barrel.

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin, editing by David Evans)