Iraq needs a new cash pipeline

BAGHDAD — With oil prices less than half what they were this summer, Iraqi and U.S. officials are searching for new sources of money to jump-start Iraq's economy.

At a meeting on Saturday, representatives from the two countries and a handful of foreign business people discussed ways to stimulate investment in business ventures in Iraq.

Almost 95 percent of Iraq's revenues come from oil exports. The Iraqi government has said that it will have to reduce its 2009 budget to $67 billion from an earlier forecast of $80 billion because of slipping crude prices.

Bayan Jabr, Iraq's finance minister, said spending would have to be reduced by more than 16 percent, leading to a drop in the money available for rebuilding infrastructure. Jabr said that the country figured that it needed almost $400 billion to rebuild and upgrade its infrastructure.

Iraqi officials emphasized that the recent decline in violence should make investing in the country safer, and Rafie al-Issawi, deputy prime minister, suggested that investors could benefit by taking a chance on "the young experiment of Iraq."