Iraq's parliament approved on Thursday a much delayed $100.5 billion budget for 2012, based on an average oil price of $85 per barrel and 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in crude exports.
The budget passed late on Thursday included a projected deficit of $12.6 billion, the bulk of which will be covered by a surplus in the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI) account at the New York Federal Reserve.
The budget, which covers operational and investment spending, allocated $31.7 billion for investment projects. The rest would go to covering salaries and food ration items.
The budget also allocated 17 trillion dinars ($14.6 billion) to the country's security forces, since bringing violence under control remains a top concern in Iraq after U.S. troops ended their nearly nine-year presence in mid-December.
Earlier on Thursday, a string of attacks across the country killed at least 60 people, highlighting the fact that the security situation in Iraq remains precarious.
Iraq, which has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world, aims to boost its oil production capacity to 8-8.5 million bpd by 2017, which could vault it into the top echelon of world producers.
