WASHINGTON, Sept 27: Reparation payments Iraq owes Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for losses inflicted in the 1991 war should be re-examined in light of Iraq’s poverty and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the US administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Friday.

Iraqis have more than 200 billion dollars “overhang” in debt and war reparations, Mr Bremer told a Pentagon press conference.

He estimated that when Iraqi oil production returns to maximum levels, the country would be able to earn about five billion dollars a year after expenses and would have a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of 800 dollars.

“I have to say that it is curious to me... that a country that poor should be required to pay reparations to countries whose per capita GDP is a factor of 10 times that, for a war which all of the Iraqis who are now in government opposed,” Mr Bremer said.

“So I think there needs to be a very serious look at this whole reparations issue.”

He said the US-appointed Governing Council “feels very strongly” about the issue, but did not know if it had been raised when council delegations visited “various neighbouring countries”.—AFP