Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
The state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, established in 2003 to finance trade and help in the reconstruction of the country, said profit rose 18 percent last year, according to a report from Bloomberg. Net income climbed to $361 million, Hussein al-Urzi, president and chairman said on Wednesday. Operating income gained 18 percent to $400 million […]
Iraqis are now officially allowed to transfer up to $50,000 [60 million Iraq dinars] per transaction in hard cash across the world, the Central Bank says. According to a report from Azzaman, the decision follows restrictions on hard cash transfers under which Iraqi banks and exchange offices were obliged to declare to the tax authorities […]
By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News. Imagine a visitor who arrives at Erbil International Airport. He passes a car showroom and heads to a hotel. He flicks a switch and is pleased to see the room illuminated […]
“Without a change in the law, Iraq’s insurance industry is at risk of standing still”, says CEO of AAIB Insurance Brokers. AAIB Insurance Brokers, Iraq’s leading international insurance broker, together with Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker, hosted an Insurance Conference in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, on 27 April. The event brought together over 40 […]
The advisor to the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB) has said that inflation jumped from 5.5% in February to 5.7% due rising electricity prices in Iraq. Muzher Mouhammed told AKnews that the high rate of inflation in Iraq is due to the March hike in electricity prices. "The rising inflation simply affects the economy but does […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Six NGO-microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide Islamic micro-financing Al-Murabaha to over 7,000 micro-enterprises, 14% of them women-owned small businesses across Anbar, Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Tikrit. Al-Takadum in Al-Anbar pioneered micro-financing based on Islamic principles in 2007 and […]
Iraq’s Central Bank announced on Tuesday that the project to re-denominate the Iraqi Dinar, removing three zeroes, is close to completion. According to the report from Alsumaria TV, the re-denomination project is believed to be a strategic plan that will be passed to the ministerial council and Parliament once complete. A Central Bank’s advisor, Mothahhar […]
Iraq Business News has received information suggesting that AsiaCell is suing Warka Bank for the return of funds amounting to around 29 billion Iraqi dinars [$25 million]. According to one source, this could be enough to do serious damage to Warka. While the full picture is still not entirely clear, we are attaching an official […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Much gets written about the struggles of small businesses in Iraq. With 36 private banks in Iraq, and high interest from the Government of Iraq to support MSMEs, especially in terms of access to finance, we […]
Iraq’s Mortgage Bank has decided to raise the personal credit, granted for any citizen planning to build a house, to 60 million Iraqi dinars [$53,000], the Bank’s Director-General, Hussein Ahmed Tu’ma, said on Wednesday. He said that the minimum total area of each patch of land would be decreased to 90 square meters from 100 […]
Iraq has told the International Monetary Fund that its central bank would remain independent, despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki winning a court ruling in January placing the central bank under the control of the cabinet, rather than the parliament. The ruling attracted criticism that the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) might lose its independence. The […]
A report on Monday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests that the Iraqi dinar is currently fairly valued at 1170 dinars to the US dollar: "The CBI [Central Bank of Iraq] will continue to aim at keeping inflation low, predominantly by maintaining a stable exchange rate. The low level and the relative stability of […]
