BAGHDAD (MEMO) – Iraq has received $7.9 million in surplus war reparation paid to Kuwait, through a UN commission, due to Baghdad’s invasion and occupation of its Persian Gulf neighbor in 1990, the Central Bank of Iraq said in a statement.
“The surplus amount was received from the Kuwait [UN] Compensation Fund, amounting to 7,946,316 U.S. dollars, after paying the full compensation to the State of Kuwait,” the statement said.
“The amount was returned to Iraq after auditing the accounts according to UN Security Council Resolution (No. 2621 of 2022) concerned with ending the file of compensation resulting from the former Iraqi regime’s invasion of the State of Kuwait,” it added.
In 1991, the UN ruled that Baghdad had to pay $52.4 billion in compensation to Kuwaiti individuals, companies, governmental organizations, and others who incurred losses resulting from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Iraq stopped making payments in 2014, during the war against Daesh, which controlled a third of the country, and resumed in 2018 after defeating the militant group.
In February, the UN reparations commission announced that Iraq had settled the balance and no further payments were necessary.