Iraq is seeking financial assistance from the U.S. to help the country combat the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and plummeting oil revenue, the country’s health minister-designate said. “We have been promised by the United States government as part of this strategy between Iraq and United States to help us financially,” Jaafar Allawi said on Wednesday during an online policy forum organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “I think there is a team negotiating now, or in the process of negotiation, to get Iraq some support, financial support, from America.”
The U.S. has proposed a strategic dialogue in June that aims for the two governments to work together amid the pandemic and decreased oil revenue. Announcing the talks during a briefing on April 7, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo warned that the Covid-19 outbreak and “plummeting oil revenues” threaten an economic collapse in Iraq.
The virus outbreak hit OPEC’s second-biggest producer as Iraq’s government was trying to end months of damaging political deadlock that coincided with a slump in oil prices. Iraq’s intelligence chief Mustafa Al-Kadhimi was picked to form a government after previous attempts failed.