Post by Sapphire Capital on Jan 5, 2015 8:59:34 GMT 4
The IS has reportedly prepared its first annual budget, in which it projects a $250 million surplus, and has opened an Islamic Bank in Mosul. The Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIS) has approved a 2015 budget of $2 billion, with an expected surplus of $250 million, a religious leader in Mosul has revealed. The IS group's first budget comes as part of a broad development programme for its declared territory, Naji Abdullah, a tribal leader in the city, told al-Araby al-Jadeed. According to Sheikh Abu Saad al-Ansari, a senior religious figure in Mosul, the budget reportedly includes monthly wages for the poor and disabled, orphans, widows and families of individuals killed in the airstrikes carried out by Iraqi and US-led coalition forces. Ansari said the budget contained up to $2 billion of expenditure, covering all areas of the "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, said Abdullah. The IS group plans to divert the expected surplus of $250 million to its war effort, according to the Iraqi tribal leader. The announcement of an IS budget comes just days after it had reportedly established an Islamic bank in Mosul, offering loans and the possibility of exchanging damaged bank notes. The IS group took control of Mosul almost seven months ago, along with vast tracts of northern, western and central Iraq.