Iraq will begin next yearto lift subsidies on petrol that consume a hugeportion of state revenues, cause periodic shortagesand encourage smuggling, according to Iraqi officials.

The announcements, which were made quietly on state television and often buried amid reports over the ratification of the constitution, said that new prices would go into effect in the new year. These would price regular petrol at 50 dinars, or about three-and-a-half US cents, a litre.