UN: Iraq Needs $5 Billion From Donors For Essential Services-BBC

[Nambe]

LONDON -(Dow Jones)

Iraq will need $5 billion from international donors at a conference in October just to keep essential services going, the U.N. has said, the BBC reports on its Web site.

But continuing security problems could scare potential donors away, said Ramiro Lopez da Silva, a U.N. humanitarian aid co-ordinator in Iraq.

Iraq's finance ministry has calculated the country will need $20 billion in 2004 to keep basic services running. But income from Iraq's crippled oil industry and other sources is unlikely to exceed $15 billion.

Donors would need to supply the rest. "That is just to keep things going," da Silva said. "If you want a qualitative leap, a quantum leap in living standards and conditions, you would need much more."

Even if money is pledged in October it may not materialize - much of the cash promised to Afghanistan has yet to arrive, he added. ---

[rooboy]

1. Ummm...

I thought the occupying powers were responsible for essential services. Since the US can afford to spend 4 billion a month, surely Rummy can cough up another 5 billion to meet the obligations that the "coalition" took on by invading the country.