“But now the local government has started to violate its own rules,” he continued. “And investors are more inclined to invest outside of the Kurdish region or in southern Iraq because of those obstacles.”
Rashid has figures that indicate that investors have put about US$2 billion into other Iraqi provinces recently. “If those amounts were invested in Iraqi Kurdistan they would have provided job opportunities for more than 80,000 locals,” Rashid notes.
The local authorities have increased taxes and fees, complains another local businessman, Omar Ismail, who lives in Sulaymaniyah. Recently Ismail has been moving a lot of his financial investments to other parts of Iraq and he says that, besides the less positive outlook on taxes, there is also the issue of power and fuel supplies.
Then again, as Ali says, no matter where the money is invested, if the investor is based in Iraqi Kurdistan, some of it must come back to the region. “Kurdish investors have made very good use of investment opportunities in other provinces and that is a good thing,” he justifies his decision. “It doesn’t matter where Kurdish investors put their money because ultimately the Kurdish region will benefit,” he argues.
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