Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has won a court ruling placing independent bodies like the central bank and the electoral agency under the control of the cabinet, rather than the parliament, a centralization of power that critics are calling a "coup." Maliki's government made the request to the supreme court in December before he was […]
Warka’s moment of truth last Wednesday (Jan 19) turned out to be a nonevent. It seems the general assembly meeting had to be postponed for a week due to lack of a quorum. To put it another way, the chairman, who holds 60% of the stock, didn’t show up. (See my last post for more […]
The Iraqi Stock Exchange announced that it held 237 trading sessions last year, during which the 25.56 billion shares worth 400 billion dinars ($339m) changed hands. The Director of the Iraqi Securities Market, Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam, said the market index (which includes 40 companies) closed at 10,098 points in the last session of 2010. […]
Let's start with a little test: Can you rank the following economies in order of the expected risk of their defaulting on their sovereign debt – Ireland, Argentina, Dubai, Greece, Iraq? The correct order, based on the cost using credit default swaps (CDS) to insure their debt against default, is: Greece (riskiest), Ireland, Argentina, Dubai, […]
Bloomberg, quoting the Nikkei newspaper, says Mitsubishi's gas project in Iraq will receive long-term trade credit insurance from Japan's state-backed Nippon Export and Investment Insurance. According to the report, this is the first time in 21 years that Japan has provided this facility for a venture in the Middle East. The company will insure Mitsubishi’s […]
On January 19, Warka Bank (BWAI) will hold a general assembly meeting to “discuss the capital increase in accordance with Article 55/1 and elect a new board of directors.” At last, it seems, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for the bank’s minority shareholders. The “capital increase in accordance with […]
AKnews quotes a source at 'Esh Bank' [Is Bankasi] as saying that the Iraqi Central bank has granted a license to the Turkish group to open branches in the Iraqi capital and the capital of the Iraqi-Kurdistan region. The source, who declined to be named, told the agency that the Turkish bank is now awaiting […]
Reuters reports that Iraq is expected to attract more overseas investment this year after foreigners were net buyers on its stock exchange in 2010, snapping up $53 million worth of shares, the market’s head said on Sunday. Taha A. Abdulsalam, chief executive of the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX), said foreign investors were showing interest across […]
The Iraq Stock Exchange ended the year with a bang last month, with Rabee Securities’ RSISX index rising 8.8% in the final two weeks of trading. Having been down as much as 10% year-to-date in early October, this index actually managed to close 2010 up 1.7%. Volume in the final week rose above IQD 10 […]
A senior Finance Ministry official said on Wednesday that Iraq's Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, will head a governmental committee developing mechanisms to protect Iraqi funds deposited in foreign banks after the UN Security Council resolution to withdraw its protection of those funds at the end of June. Diya Khayyoun, the Undersecretary of the Finance Ministry, […]
Following on from our listing on Monday of the main cabinet positions, we present a more complete line-up below, compiled from information sourced from Iraq Oil Report and Reuters. The official website of the Iraq cabinet has not published the official list, and has chosen instead to lead with an article about the importation of […]
Iraq's core annual inflation slipped to 3.1 percent in November from 3.2 percent in October and is likely to be at a similar level in December, a central bank official said on Tuesday. Reuters reports that Mudher Kasim, a senior adviser at the Central Bank of Iraq, said inflation was driven mainly by higher housing, […]
