2026-08-26T08:56:48+00:00
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Shafaq News-
Baghdad
Iraq is
reviewing the performance of several state-owned banks and financial
institutions as the government struggles with a cash crunch and delayed
public-sector salaries, an informed source said Wednesday.
The reviews
are examining alleged misuse of public funds, falling liquidity, and misleading
reports submitted by some bank managers to senior officials, according to the
source, who spoke to Shafaq News on condition of anonymity.
Government
bodies are assessing how the banks are run, alongside management changes and
recently launched investigations into cases said to have caused losses of
public money and enabled corruption. Investigators are also examining why cash
reserves once held at state banks have fallen, the source said, in preparation
for legal and administrative measures.
The
assessments weigh how far each management can support the government through
the current strain, the source said, and how far each institution has moved
toward digital systems. Continued reliance on paper procedures rather than
electronic ones is among the concerns drawing official attention.
Some
managers have submitted figures and reports that do not reflect actual
operations, the source said, adding that field monitoring has exposed a wide
gap between official reporting and performance on the ground. That gap is
itself under review.
The measures
are part of a broader government effort to reassess how state financial
institutions perform and to strengthen efficiency, governance, and digital
systems, the source said, given the financial pressure and the delay in paying
salaries.
The review comes
after a separate informed source told Shafaq News on Tuesday that state
salaries could be delayed until the end of this month or early next month
because funding for ministries and state bodies had not yet been released.
Salaries are funded and paid out to state institutions sequentially, a process
that takes several days. Several state banks are low on cash after their
reserves fell, limiting their ability to fund state bodies or borrow
domestically.
Read more: Iraq’s private banks: Capital Growth and the structural credit gap