Iraqi PM: Lower oil prices could impede ISIS fight

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Thursday that falling global oil prices could impede the military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“Oil prices have dropped to about 40 percent of their level last year. Iraq’s economy and budget relies 85 percent on oil and this has been disastrous for us,” Abadi said at a press conference in London, according to Reuters.

{mosads}”We don’t want to see a reverse of our military victory due to our fiscal and budget problems.”

Oil prices have dropped significantly for several months now as U.S. oil production increased and oil from the Middle East and Africa is sold to Asian markets. The shift is causing oil producers to lower their prices.

Abadi was meeting with other members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS to discuss how to defeat the terror group. 

Secretary of State John Kerry attended the meeting and said the coalition must do more to cut off ISIS’s finances and the flow of foreign fighters and attack them militarily. 

Iraqi security forces have retaken 700 square kilometers of territory in Iraq from ISIS, Kerry added.