Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
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, […]
AKnews reportedon Saturday, that "Eash Bank" from Turkey claims to open two branches in Erbil and Baghdad in the coming three months. Iraq Business News believes it sthe bank to be İş Bankasi. According to Jihan News Agency, the Bank Director Arsean Awzanja said there is a possibility to open four branches in Iraq. Awzanja […]
The Turkish alBaraka Bank will open its branch in Erbil, the Kurdistan Region’s capital, in early January, according to a report from AKnews. According to the information leaked to the agency's correspondent, the bank’s officials have completed the formal application through the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), and have informed the Kurdistan officials of the […]
USAID-Tijara’s Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference began with a pledge to provide greater financial services to people living below Iraq’s poverty line of $2.20 a day and ended with a celebration of innovative loan products that have created or sustained 203,500 jobs since 2003. Participants at the Nov. 28-30 symposium in Erbil debated new Iraqi […]
An adviser to the Iraqi Central Bank said on Wednesday that the 2011 budget will result in economic growth of 10%. Muzher Mohammed told AKnews that the 2011 budget in its present state is one of the best Iraqi budgets since 2003 as it will increase the country's economic output by 10%, and it will […]
I used to think that rapid increases in Iraqi oil production would practically guarantee a significant strengthening of the dinar over the next ten years. Surprisingly, however, history suggests that this is far from a foregone conclusion. While the Oil Ministry claims that Iraqi capacity will rise by 10 million barrels per day (mn bbl/d) […]
Last week a Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) official revealed that October year-on-year core CPI inflation jumped to 3.2% from just 1.87% in September, breaking a nine-month downtrend. At first glance, you might conclude that Iraq is now at the start of the same CPI uptrend that its neighbors, and indeed much of the developing […]
The Iraqi Central Bank announced recently an increase in its reserves of foreign currency to more than $ 50 billion, up from $ 41 billion at the end of the first half of 2010. Mohammed Salih, an advisor to the bank, said in an interview with Radio Free Iraq that this increase is attributable to […]
