BAGHDAD: Iraq will run a budget deficit of around 16 trillion Iraqi dinars ($13.7 billion) in 2012 on a budget of 115 trillion ($98.3 billion), Iraqi Finance Minister Rafie Al-Esawi said Monday. "The deficit of 2012 will be around 16 trillion Iraqi dinars ($13.7 billion). As a percentage (of the budget) it will be less than the deficit of the current year," Esawi told Reuters. Iraq's 2011 budget was $82.6 billion based on an average oil price of $76.50 per barrel and 2.2 million barrels per day in crude exports. Iraqi officials had said previously their budget figures for 2012 were based on a world oil price of $85 a barrel. Next year's spending plan allocates 40 trillion dinars ($34.2 billion) for investments. The current year deficit had been projected at $13.4 billion, although officials have said the shortfall will be eliminated if world oil prices remain at current high levels. Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani said this month that Iraq earned $34.1 billion in oil revenue in the first five months of the year, $8.7 billion over projected revenue. Iraq has ambitious plans to use its vast oilfields, some of the world's largest, to rebuild its battered economy and infrastructure after years of war and economic sanctions. Meanwhile, an Indian infrastructure firm Tuesday said it has signed a multimillion-dollar deal to build an power plant in Iraq as part of the war-torn country's plans to cut its energy deficit. Lanco Infratech Limited said the 3.65-billion-rupee ($81.3-million) deal would see the construction of a 250-megawatt, gas-fired facility in the western province of Al-Anbar. Earlier this month, Iraq signed deals with Turkish, Kuwaiti and South Korean energy firms to develop two gas fields in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, and in the southern province of Basra.
