Iraq customs revenue jumps 32% to IQD 442 billion in September

Summary

• Iraq's customs authority collected IQD 442.27 billion in September 2026, up roughly 32.34% year on year.
• The figure is IQD 108.07 billion above the IQD 334.2 billion collected in September 2025.
• Non-oil revenue carries growing weight in a budget funding trillions of dinars in monthly salaries.

The latest

Iraq's General Customs Authority collected IQD 442,266,831,097 in September 2026, an increase of about 32.34% over the same month a year earlier. The authority credited the jump to reworked customs procedures and higher collection efficiency at border centres and customs zones, describing the effort as part of a push to expand revenue sources outside oil.

Details

• The headline number: September 2026 receipts reached IQD 442,266,831,097, according to the General Customs Authority statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency. The figure covers total customs revenue for the month across the authority's centres and zones.
• The comparison: The same month in 2025 produced IQD 334,196,099,859. The year-on-year gap is IQD 108,070,731,238 — close to a third more revenue from the same single month, and the basis for the roughly 32.34% growth rate the authority reported.
• The explanation: The authority attributed the increase to the development of customs work procedures and improved collection efficiency at customs centres and zones. It did not break the gain down between higher trade volumes, tighter enforcement against evasion, or tariff application.
• The policy frame: The authority placed the result within a broader effort to maximise non-oil revenue, a priority for a state budget still overwhelmingly dependent on crude export earnings and exposed to swings in global oil prices.
• Who is named: The statement credited direction from Finance Minister Faleh Sari and follow-up by the authority's director general, Thamer Qasim Dawood. No other officials or agencies were named as participants in the collection drive.
• What was not disclosed: The authority published no port-by-port or crossing-by-crossing breakdown, no cumulative total for 2026 to date, and no target figure for the rest of the year against which the September result could be measured.
• The source: The numbers were issued as a General Customs Authority statement and distributed by the Iraqi News Agency on 12 October 2026. The agency is the Iraqi state's official news outlet, making this a government self-reported figure rather than an independent audit.
• The budget context: Iraq's federal budget carries a public-sector payroll running into trillions of dinars each month. Against that scale, an extra IQD 108 billion in a single month is marginal in isolation but material if the monthly gain holds through the year.

Background

Iraq funds the large majority of its budget from oil export revenue, leaving the treasury directly exposed to price moves. Successive governments have pledged to raise customs and tax collection to narrow that dependence, with customs crossings a long-standing focus for leakage and under-collection.

Between the lines

The authority tied the gain to procedure and collection efficiency rather than to trade volume, which frames the result as an administrative achievement rather than a signal of expanding imports. Without a port-level or year-to-date breakdown, it is not yet possible to tell whether September reflects a durable improvement in collection or a single strong month.

What's next

Watch whether October figures hold near IQD 440 billion, whether the authority publishes a cumulative 2026 total, and how the finance ministry books non-oil revenue in the next budget presentation.

Source: Iraqi News Agency (INA) — General Customs Authority statement