Word: iraqi
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Where will the money come from? Al-Sheikhly says still more outside investment is needed to revitalize the city. That kind of talk only compounds the grumpiness of the country's biggest donor: the U.S. government. Washington is increasingly unhappy over the Iraqi government's seeming reluctance to spend funds from its own coffers on reconstruction projects. "Despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue in the past five years, U.S. taxpayer money has been the overwhelming source of Iraq reconstruction funds," said Senator John Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee...
Warner's statement followed the release of a report by the Government Accountability Office on annual Iraqi oil revenues and Iraqi government spending on security and reconstruction efforts. The report, requested by Warner and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan found that Washington had underwritten $48 billion for stabilization and reconstruction activities in Iraq since invading in 2003. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, grossed an estimated $96 billion in revenues from 2005 to 2007, almost entirely from oil. Between $67 another $79 billion in oil revenues is projected for Iraq in 2008 with prices remaining at record levels...
...Iraqi government now has tens of billions of dollars at its disposal to fund large-scale reconstruction projects. It is inexcusable for U.S taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves," said Levin. "We should not be paying for Iraqi projects, while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank including outrageous profits from $4 a gallon gas prices in the U.S. We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects...
While some of Iraq's surplus funds sit in U.S. accounts, no Iraqi officials reached by TIME expressed any concern that they would be able to access the money. All the funds are managed by the Central Bank of Iraq and spent on government orders. Iraqi officials say continuing violence has undoubtedly hindered the rebuilding. A shortage of skilled officials in key ministries and anti-corruption safeguards have also slowed Iraqi reconstruction initiatives, U.S. and Iraqi officials...
...true that the Iraqi government is spending little on reconstruction," says Ayad Al-Samariee, the head of the finance committee in the Iraqi parliament. "The weak Iraqi capability to do big projects, maybe at the end of 2008, will improve...