Iraq announces sale of $1 billion in bonds guaranteed by US

Baghdad: Iraq announced the sale of $1 billion in bonds guaranteed by the United States, paying an interest of 2.1 per cent, far below the price the country is paying for its non-guaranteed debt.

The US-guaranteed five-year bonds were issued on Wednesday, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The Iraqi government, which relies almost exclusively on oil income, has struggled to pay its bills since crude prices dropped in 2014, the same year that Islamic State militants seized a third of the country’s territory.