Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
Starting March 6, Iraq will begin imposing import tariffs ranging from zero to 80%. For many products, this will be a big increase. Up to now, importers have been subject to a uniform tariff of only 5%, which covered everything except food, medicine, books, clothing and products related to humanitarian assistance or Iraq’s reconstruction. (For […]
Abdul Hussein Al-Anbuge, an Iraqi government economic adviser, has urged the country's private lenders to merge in order to strengthen their capital and provide stronger support to the banking sector, AK News has reported. The total capital of Iraqi private banks rose from $30m in 2004 to $1.6bn now, not including what is owned by […]
With a year-to-date return of 14.6% as of February 7, the Rabee Securities RSISX index is the region’s second best performer so far this year. Only Iran’s TEPIX index, up 16.4%, did better. Regional stock markets have generally mirrored the lackluster performance of the Morgan Stanley global emerging markets index, which is down 1.8% year-to-date. […]
Last week the federal supreme court ruled in favor of the government's request to have the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), along with the Independent High Electoral Commission, the Integrity Commission, and the High Commission for Human Rights, put under the supervision of the cabinet. This is bad news for the central bank. Up to […]
Following the Supreme Court decision to place several independent bodies under the control of the Iraqi cabinet, rather than the parliament, a legal expert has said that the Central Bank of Iraq is an independent body that cannot be linked to the Cabinet. According to the report from AKnews, the Central Bank of Iraq warned […]
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 […]
