By Ali Abdel Sadah for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraqi politicians and activists are discussing the possibility of forming a “national salvation government,” following a July 24 suggestion by Fakhri Kareem, an influential politician and prominent journalist. The deteriorating security situation and muddled politics led […]
By Reidar Visser. The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Through last-minute […]
By Ali Abdel Sadah for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has admitted to a “defect and stupidity” in the contracts signed by Iraqi officials with international companies to improve his country's power distribution. On July 23, in a Baghdad meeting with […]
By Matthew Gayle. Iraqi parliament Oil & Energy Committee member, MP Suzan al-Sa'ad, recently stressed that the country's decline in crude oil production during 2013 will lead to major deficit in the federal budget of 2014. According to a report by the Oil Ministry, Iraq oil exports decreased at average of seven million barrels in […]
On July 29, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm about the deterioration of the security situation in Iraq. "The Sectretary-General condemns, in the strongest terms, the acts of terrorism and the heightened sectarian violence, which are aimed at ripping apart the country's social fabric," Ban's spokesperson said in a statement. "The killing of […]
By Matthew Gayle. According to shipping data tracked by Reuters and industry sources, oil exports from Iraq have fallen by about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June due to bad weather disrupting loadings. Exports from Iraq’s southern shipping outlet, have averaged close to 2 million bpd in the first three weeks of June, which […]
Iraq has awarded Thailand with the tender announced last month seeking a minimum of 30,000 tons of rice, and will purchase a total of 80,000 tons of rice from Thailand. Thai rice was amongst the lowest offers in the tender that closed on March 31, which included invited applications from the U.S., Uruguay, Argentina and […]
By Matthew Gayle. According to Bloomberg, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi [Elaibi] recently said that Iraq is seeking a long-term accord to boost oil exports to China as OPEC's second -biggest producer increases output from fields operated by companies like Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA). Crude exports from Iraq to China average 500,000 barrels per day, […]
By Matthew Gayle. While attending festival in southern Iraq, Iraqi experts urged the government to declare the Iraqi marshes in that region a national park. The festival was part of a series of activities that the Iraq Nature Organization is developing to lobby the government and international bodies to declare the marches a natural reserve. […]
By Matthew Gayle. According to the state-run Grain Board of Iraq, over 5.4 million tons of food were imported into Iraq last year to cover the state-run food rationing system that was originally initiated in 1990. The system food rationing system was put into place to help offset the impact of U.N. trade sanctions, and […]
By Matthew Gayle. The Burgan Bank Group announced that it has won Global Banking and Finance Review's award for Best Banking in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) for the second year in a row. The award was given to Burgan Bank Group in recognition of its performance in 2012, and its consistent delivery of sound […]
By Matthew Gayle. The Iraqi government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Romanian railcar producer Astra to establish a joint railway company based in Iraq. According to Al-Shorfa, the Iraqi-Romanian company, which will specialize in producing trains, will be based in al-Samawa, southern Iraq. The company will also focus on rehabilitating the train […]
