Iraq: How the Oil Crash Affects Oil-Dependent Countries Like Iraq

Apr 27, 2020 | Smya Kullab and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press
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Iraq is planning painful cuts in social benefits relied on by millions of government workers. Saudi Arabia will likely have to delay mega-projects. Egypt and Lebanon face a blow as their workers in the Gulf send back less of the much-needed dollars that help keep their fragile economies afloat. The historic crash in oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is reverberating across the Middle East as crude-dependent countries scramble to offset losses from a key source of state revenue – and all this at a time when several of them already face explosive social unrest.