BAGHDAD: Iraq has paid its last war reparations to Kuwait more than 30 years since the invasion of the Gulf country by former autocrat Saddam Hussein, officials said yesterday. On August 2, 1990, Hussein ordered his army to invade Kuwait and seize what he described as “Iraq’s 19th province”, before being pushed back seven months later by a US-led coalition.

“Iraq has closed the file of the Kuwait war reparations, having paid the last of its dues,” Mozher Saleh, the prime minister’s economic advisor, was quoted as saying by the official Iraqi News Agency. In total, Iraq has paid $52.4 billion in reparations, he said.

The central bank announced Tuesday the payment of the final portion of the reparations, valued at $44 million. The payments were suspended in 2014 when the Islamic State group took over large swathes of Iraq but were resumed in 2018, following the group’s defeat.

Funds for the reparations come from a five percent tax levied on sales of Iraq’s petroleum and petroleum products. The compensation is distributed by a UN agency to claimants who suffered losses or damages as a result of the invasion.  —AFP