Iraq seeks international donations for rebuilding

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/4947746.htm

BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Iraq will need billions of dollars from donors to finance reconstruction and prevent a budget crisis next year, the head of a new body charged with coordinating international rebuilding efforts said on Sunday.

Marek Belka, a former deputy prime minister of Poland, said revenue from oil exports would not meet general government costs, let alone reconstruction needs, and that pledges from international donors would have to serve as a lifeline.

"The reconstruction demands of Iraq are immense, far larger than can be covered by revenue from oil exports, so the financing gap is huge," Belka told delegates at the first meeting of Iraq's Council for International Coordination (CIC).

The United States says it hopes to get output up to two million barrels per day, worth $12-14 billion a year, by the end of 2003, near to pre-war levels.

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