U.S. Officials Account for Iraqi Funds

U.S. administrators in Iraq released figures Monday showing proceeds of $1.4 billion from oil sales since Saddam Hussein’s ouster.

The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority said a total of $3 billion had been deposited in its Development Fund for Iraq, authorized by the U.N. Security Council in May to hold the oil revenue and other money earmarked for reconstruction.

Of that amount, $666 million had been spent, leaving a balance of more than $2.3 billion as of last week, the coalition said on its Web site, www.cpa-iraq.org.

The coalition listed the following deposits in the Development Fund for Iraq: $1 billion left over from the U.N. oil-for-food program, $1.4 billion from oil sales, $300 million in Iraqi funds found overseas and repatriated after the war, $200 million from a U.S. Treasury “special account” and a $120-million reimbursement from the U.N. World Food Program.

A total of $666 million has been spent by the fund: $433 million for the Finance Ministry budget, $125 million for wheat purchases, $92 million for a currency exchange program, $8 million for security equipment, $6 million for oil equipment and $2 million for electricity equipment, the coalition said.

Some Security Council diplomats have criticized the coalition for setting up the fund as an account at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York rather than the Central Bank of Iraq, as specified by a council resolution.