Nearly $180 bln transferred to Iraq fund, says UN report

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The fund administering proceeds from export sales of petroleum from Iraq has received an influx of nearly 180 billion U.S. dollars through the end of last year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report made public here on Wednesday.

The secretary-general acknowledged that an Iraqi-run committee is ready to assume responsibility for the scheme.

Oil exports account for just over 165 million U.S. dollars of the Development Fund for Iraq, which was established in 2003, the same year the UN Security Council phased out the oil-for-food program, under which a sanctions-bound Iraq was allowed to use monitored oil sales revenue for humanitarian purchases.

The balance of the oil-for-food funds held under escrow by the UN deposited into the Fund amounted to 10 billion dollars, with a further 1.5 billion dollars deposited as proceeds from frozen assets, according to the report by Ban to the Security Council.