PARIS, Sept 19: The International Energy Agency's top economist warned in an interview with AFP that any unexpected slowdown in the growth of Iraq's energy output would be “bad news” for the rest of the world.

Fatih Birol noted that while such a slowdown was not the IEA's central forecast, it remained a credible-enough possibility that the organisation included it in an upcoming report on Iraq's energy industry due next month.

His remarks come amid a dramatic ramping up of the country's oil output, with Iraq earlier this year overtaking Iran to become the second-biggest producer within OPEC, and more increases are expected in the coming years.

“If it doesn't grow, ... (if) the growth stays much more modest than any sensible expectation... then this would mean that the major difficulties (would) continue within Iraq, but also very bad news for the global oil markets,” IEA Chief Economist Birol said in his Paris office on Monday.—AFP