IBN Interviews Dr Ali al-Dabbagh - Part 2

AD: I think it is a wise policy which we are following, to control our currency and not to allow it to fluctuate. We are still in the early stages of opening the market and liberating our markets and we do need to take hard steps to control the currency from such a high fluctuation, which definitely could destroy the market which is still in its early stages and would not be immune to fluctuation. We are going to continue protecting our currency, and deleting the three zeros from it doesn't have any negative effect, rather it is just a cosmetic step which could make things easier and make for a lower quantity of paper in the market.

IBN: Regarding the country in general, and the progress you've made over recent years, how would you envisage Iraq in, say, 3 to 5 years' time; how would the Iraq of 3 years' time or 5 years' time be different from the Iraq of today?

AD: The remarkable thing now is the security situation, we is much better than in 2006/2007, which was a big disaster, which was about to descend into civil war, but not only the security has improved, but also the economic situation and the standard of living of the people.

And we should not deny that the services have not been improved in the way that the Iraqi citizens look for, but in the end there is a lack of efficiency, there are deficient people in the administration, there is also problems with security and influence and regional influence, and this all resulted in slow progress in providing the main and general services for the citizen, but in general we are in a good situation.

The Americans are leaving at the end of the year, we are going to do the job by ourselves, the security situation is our responsibility and in the long term we have to do it by ourselves, but I don't deny we do need also the American help still in providing proper training for our security forces.

IBN: Dr Ali al-Dabbagh, thank you very much for speaking with Iraq Business News.