Iraq Earns Another 452 Million Dollars in Weekly Oil RevenueIraq exported 16.4 million barrels of oil, earning US$452 million under the oil-for-food program in the week leading up to December 1, the United Nations Office of the Iraq Program reported Tuesday, December 5.The office which administers the UN humanitarian program said that since the start of the program in December 1996, Iraq has exported over 2,207 million barrels of oil, raising the estimated total revenue to more than US$38.7 billion. The total value of contracts placed on hold by the United Nations sanctions committee on Iraq as of December 1 stood at almost 2.5 billion dollars, representing 14.9 percent of all circulated contracts, the office said. During the week, 33 contracts worth 115 million dollars were released from hold by the committee, however, 46 new contracts worth 184.4 million dollars were placed on hold, the office added. Under the Security Council resolution establishing the oil-for-food program, 66 percent of earning goes to fund the country's humanitarian needs and 30 percent is directed to the Compensation Commission which pays claims arising from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The remainder goes to pay the costs of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and U.N. operational costs. The UN imposed stringent sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The sanctions cannot be lifted until Iraq is clarified to be free from weapons of mass destruction. The UN arms inspectors have been away from Iraq since the US-led military air strikes against the country in December 1998. Iraq reiterated that lifting of the sanctions is the precondition for the UN arms inspectors to return. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |