Economy stalled as political crisis delays budget approval

Iraqis await the results of the Federal Supreme Court session scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, ruling on a motion to dissolve the country’s deadlocked parliament.

Concerns grew after supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the Green Zone in the wake of the clerics’ announcement that he was withdrawing from politics.

The unrest that followed prompted Prime Minister Mustafa Kazemi to call on the parties to stop the bloodshed and continue a national dialogue suspended by a security curfew. Kazemi said that should the parties continue their intransigence, he would resign, raising fears of a worsening political vacuum.

Political analyst Hamza Mustafa told A24 that a caretaker government would be unable to pay salaries, advance infrastructure projects, or grow the economy because it can’t constitutionally pass a budget.