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 […]
Archive | Iraq Banking & Finance News
Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
Tags: Financing, Ideas sYnergy, Islamic Finance, Microfinance, MSMEs, National Shari'a Board, Small Businesses
Iraq Central Bank 'To remove 3 Zeroes from Dinar"
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 […]
AsiaCell to Bankrupt Warka Bank?
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 […]
Tags: Asiacell, Warka Bank
The Struggles of Small Businesses – The Broken Links
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 […]
Mortgage Bank Increases Credit for Housing
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 […]
Tags: Housing, Mortgage Bank
Iraq Growth '12%', CBI to Stay Independent
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 […]
IMF Suggests Stable Iraqi Dinar
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 […]
Tags: Dinar Revaluation News, IMF, International Monetary Fund, IQD, Iraqi Dinar News, Redenomination
KRG High Representative to UK Talks to Iraq Business News
Iraq Business News recently had the pleasure of interviewing the Kurdistan Regional Government's High Representative to the United Kingdom, Ms Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. Iraq Business News: Ms Abdul Rahman, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. May I ask you firstly for your opinion about the ongoing protests in the […]
Tags: Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, KRG
Iraqi Dinar Revaluation Enthusiasts are Unaware of Bernie Madoff’s Fame
By Tom Cleveland, market analyst for Forex Traders, exclusively for Iraq Business News. Forextraders.com is an online resource for the foreign exchange market. “Buy on the rumor, sell on the news” is a time-honored investment phrase that is oftentimes more confusing than the wisdom it attempts to impart. The meaning relates primarily to company securities […]
CBI Forecasts More Iraqi Inflation
An adviser from the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB) said on Thursday that inflation will continue to rise if the Iraqi economy continues its dependence on crude oil revenues. Muzher Mohammed Saleh told AKnews that the inflation will continue increasing unless the agricultural and industrial sectors are stimulated, in addition to supporting local production. "The monetary […]
Iraqi Microfinance Targets Women
Iraq's Ministry of State for Women's Affairs, Ibtihal al-Zaidi, told AKnews that the Iraqi Council of Ministers agreed to allocate a proportion of small loans for women. During its recent meeting on granting loans to finance the small enterprises, the Council of Ministers agreed that priority will be given to women supporting families. "The request […]
Tags: Microfinance
IMF Approves $471 Million Payment to Iraq
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the second review of Iraq’s economic performance under a program supported by a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) on Friday. Completion of the second review makes an additional SDR 297.1 million (about US$471.1 million) available for disbursement, bringing the total resources currently purchased by Iraq under the […]