Iraq is headed for the new year without a new budget, casting uncertainty on investment spending plans and financial flows for Kurdistan.

BAGHDAD/ERBIL - Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi has indicated he is unlikely to send a draft 2020 budget to Parliament, instead leaving the next government to answer tough questions about how to pay a massive public-sector payroll, fund investment spending, and establish a stable financial and oil arrangement with the Kurdistan region.

"Abd al-Mahdi saw the growing opposition against his government and the draft budget as well, so he did not want to send a draft [budget to Parliament] that could have increased this opposition," said Shirwan Mirza, a member of the Parliament Finance Committee. "It’s not reasonable to get a caretaker government to make a financial plan for the next one."

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