Where Iraq’s money goes
Every month the Ministry of Finance publishes the state’s account: what came in, what went out. Read together, they show a state that lives on oil and spends most of it on its own payroll.
118%
of what oil brought in went on public salaries in January–July 2026. The state paid 35.9 trillion dinars in wages; its oil earned 30.3 trillion. The payroll alone cost more than all the oil. The last time that happened was February to April 2016, when oil prices crashed.
Follow the money
Where each dinar came from, and where it went. Pick a year; point at a flow to read it.
January–July 2026 · 39.1T dinars came in, 68.3T went out · a gap of 29.2T · point at a flow to read it
Each year is the account’s running total at December, or at the latest month published for 2026. Each year is drawn to its own total. Debt payments have their own line from 2021; before that they are inside “other running costs”.
Salaries against oil
Public salaries as a share of oil income, every year since 2015. In 2025 it was 56%; in 2022, a year of high oil income, 28%. Oil income swings with the price; the payroll does not. It has nearly doubled, from 32.7 trillion dinars in 2015 to 60.4 trillion in 2025.
The gap
Income minus spending. Below the line, the state spent more than it took in and borrowed or drew on savings to cover it. It took in more than it spent only in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022. In January–July 2026 alone the gap is 29.2 trillion dinars.
What gets cut
When money runs short, the state keeps paying salaries and stops building. Investment — roads, power stations, schools — was 26% of spending in 2015; in January–July 2026 it is 4%.
HOW THESE NUMBERS ARE MADE
- The source — the Ministry of Finance’s monthly state account (حساب الدولة), every month since January 2015, read from its own documents; every figure closes a sum printed in the document. The series →
- Years — the running total at December; for 2026, at the newest month published. Nothing is annualised or forecast.
- Salaries against oil — compensation of employees ÷ oil and mineral revenue. The working →
- The gap — revenue − spending. A cash account: arrears and off-budget borrowing do not show. The working →
- Other running costs and taxes, fees and other income are what is left of the printed totals after the named lines — never estimated.