Washington  - The US government has spent 85 billion dollars paying contractors for work in Iraq since the war began more than five years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office.

The amount spent, which does not include figures for 2008, accounts for 20 per cent of all spending - including military operations - by the US government in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, CBO said.

Seventy per cent of the contracts were for work done in Iraq, and abut 40 per cent of the paid contractor personnel were Iraqi citizens, CBO said.

From 2003 through 2007, the United States has spent 446 billion dollars in Iraq. The large amount for contractors could fuel criticism that private contractors are overcharging US taxpayers.

The CBO estimates that 6 billion to 10 billion dollars were spent on private security contractors who protect diplomats and construction sites. The CBO said at the beginning of this year, there were about 190,000 US-funded contractors working in Iraq. (dpa)