UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Baghdad for talks

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Baghdad Saturday for talks with senior officials on ways of assisting war-ravaged Iraq, the world body said.

Ban, who had last visited the Iraqi capital in March 2015, was travelling with World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and Islamic Development Bank head Ahmad al-Madani.

They went straight into talks with Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Ban flew from Lebanon, where he called for an end to war in the region and visited some of the 1.2 million refugees the country hosts.

A drop in oil prices has had a devastating effect on the economy of Iraq, already strained by the cost of the fight against the Islamic State group.