By John Lee.
The Deputy Transport Minister, Bangen Rekani, has told Bloomberg that Iraq will seek $2 billion in financing to cover part of the cost of the 40 jets it has on order from Boeing.
Iraq ordered 30 737-800s in 2008, followed by 10 787-8 long-haul Dreamliners in 2009, and a single 777 in 2012 — three planes have been delivered to date and two more are due in the coming weeks. The total value of the deal is reported to be $5 billion at current list prices.
The Deputy Minister added that Citigroup will be invited to advise on the plan, and a committee drawn from Iraq’s transport and finance ministries, Central Bank and Iraqi Airways, has been formed to negotiate the funding.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) facility is expected to be in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
Iraqi Airways also has a letter of intent to purchase five CS300 CSeries narrow-bodies from Bombardier, worth $387 million at list prices, plus 11 options that would take the value to $1.26 billion.
“We need a lot of funds,” Rekani said. “We’re in a race to complete the maximum number of projects in a short time.”
(Source: Bloomberg)