Mudar Al-Karawi, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, indicated on Thursday that reducing corruption at border crossings will increase the percentage of their income in the state budget to at least 10%.
“Rapid changes in the world of energy make reliance on oil as a primary resource for the Iraqi treasury carrying three risks, the most prominent of which are price fluctuations and their direct impact on the government’s obligations to secure salaries and other benefits, which requires reconsidering revenue diversification,” Al-Karawi said in an interview with Al-Maalouma.
He went on to say, “Border crossings are a huge financial resource, but the emergence and widespread penetration of corruption has contributed to reducing revenues at high rates, even though the crossings can become an important factor in securing a portion of the country’s general budget revenues.”
He went on to say that “if corruption at the crossings were curbed with the adoption of government frameworks in the calendar of what is imported, the revenues from the crossings could reach 10% of the country’s budget, which would give high flexibility in facing any fluctuations in crude oil prices.”
