Archive | Iraq Banking & Finance News

Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.

'Stolen' Iraqi Funds Could Exceed $18 Billion

Osama al-Nujaifi, the Iraqi parliament speaker, has told Al Jazeera that the amount of Iraqi money unaccounted for by the US is $18.7bn - three times more than the $6.6bn we reported last week. Al-Nujaifi is scheduled to visit the US soon and discuss the missing Iraqi billions. He said that he received a report […]

Iraqi Inflation Up Again in May

Iraq's core annual inflation rose to 6.3 percent in May from 6.1 percent in April, a senior official at the Central Bank of Iraq told Reuters on Sunday. The agency reports that the figure is driven by the cost of imported goods and services, especially healthcare. Inflation had previously risen from 5.5% in February to […]

Iraq Stock Exchange Ties Up with DirectFN

The Iraq Stock Exchange has announced that it has launched the dissemination of real time and delayed Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) market data in conjunction with DirectFN, popularly known as Mubasher in the Middle East. The launch is part of the ISX plan to allow local and foreign investors to view real-time stock prices for […]

Iraq's Missing $6.6bn - Theft Not Ruled Out

The Los Angeles Times reports that theft has not been ruled out by auditors trying to trace $6.6 billion [7.9 trillion Iraqi dinars] of missing cash. A total of $12 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills was flown to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 to pay for public services, contractors, and general reconstruction. More […]

Clinton urges U.S. companies to invest in Iraq

Iraq is open for business, and American companies should make an effort to invest there, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (pictured) has said, according to a report from CNN. The Secretary was addressing the Business Forum Promoting Commercial Opportunities in Iraq, which included executives from companies as far-ranging as Occidental Petroleum, JP Morgan Chase, General […]

Iraq to Provide Islamic Banking Services

Iraq's Ministry of Finance and Central Bank announced on Tuesday that Iraq will provide Islamic banking services in major banks owned by the state, under a plan worth $42 million which will be implemented this month. The Finance Ministry said on its website that Islamic transactions will be facilitated in the Rafidain and Al-Rasheed banks […]

Maliki Appoints New Boss to Trade Bank of Iraq

Iraq's Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has appointed Hamida al-Jaf as head of the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, replacing Hussein al-Uzri amid investigations into alleged corruption, the bank’s deputy director general said. “The Trade Bank of Iraq is operating normally and people have confidence in the bank,” Deputy Director General Abdel Hadi Sadeq Abdel Mahdi […]

Iraq to Repay $408 million Egyptian Debt

Iraq has agreed to pay $408 million in cash to Egypt to settle old debts owed by Baghdad from more than two decades ago, a government spokesman said. Reuters reports that the debts date back to a period when United Nations sanctions following the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait blocked the payment of salaries that […]

Iraq Issues Arrest Warrant for Bank Chief

Following Thursday's raid on the offices of the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), CNBC reports that Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the head of the bank, which is under investigation for alleged irregularities. An Iraqi government source said Hussein al-Uzri, president and chairman of the bank, had fled to Lebanon. He reportedly […]

Supporting Entrepreneurship in Iraq – The Challenge of Translating Mandates to Action

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Most development agendas for Iraq putatively support entrepreneurship and the need to support private sector development through its focus on the growing number of unemployed youth in the country. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently […]

Trade Bank of Iraq Under Investigation

Iraq's prime minister ordered a judicial investigation on Thursday into one of the country's biggest banks, the Trade Bank of Iraq, saying it was suspected of committing "violations", according to a report from Reuters. The bank's president and chairman, Hussein Al-Uzri, could not be reached for comment. A British adviser to the bank's board, Sir […]