Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile, was recently interviewed by Iraq's Radio Dijla. The full transcript is shown below: Radio Dijla: How do foreign investors look at the Iraqi market today? Gavin Jones: There are three main reasons for foreign investors committing to a market – a […]
This hasn’t been a great year for Iraqi stocks by any stretch of the imagination. As measured by Rabee Securities’ dollar-based index, as of October 7 the market is down 10% year-to-date. And with index constituent stocks with a total weighting of something like 40% currently suspended from trading and Warka Bank (BWAI) no longer […]
Abu Dhabi's Invest AD has launched an Iraq Investment Fund to channel investment into high-growth companies in a country where improving stability and increased oil production should fuel strong economic expansion in coming years. Invest AD is seeding the fund and is marketing it alongside its other equities and private equity funds that invest in […]
Iraqi banks need to raise at least $10 billion [12 trillion Iraqi dinars] in fresh capital over the next three years to prepare for the expected oil-fuelled construction boom and meet new regulatory requirements, Reuters quotes an investor. Iraq has signed multi-billion deals with oil firms to boost output capacity to 12 million barrels a […]
Earlier this month it was reported that the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) might redenominate the Iraqi dinar after the new government is formed, exchanging one new dinar for 1,000 old. (For more on this story, see https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2010/09/14/central-bank-wants-to-drop-zeros-from-iraqi-dinar/.) While such a redenomination would obviously help to simplify transactions and record keeping, it is not clear […]
Warka Bank issued a statement on Wednesday refuting the rumours (click here for more details) that it was in financial difficulty: Dear Warka Clients, With regard to the rumors that have been circulating against our bank by ill competitors please note that our bank is well supervised and monitored by the highest financial authority in […]
Speculation is rife that Iraq’s Warka Bank has collapsed, but its managing director said that it has not collapsed but has faced problems due to a recent decision of the Iraqi government to withdraw over $1.6 billion from the bank. Our resident blogger on economic issues, Mark DeWeaver, recently reported on the mysteries of Warka's rights issue. […]
Iraq's core annual inflation rose to 1.9 percent in August from 1.7 percent in July, according to Reuters, quoting an official at the Central Bank. "The core inflation is stable, this is a normal rise due to the increase of food prices during the month of Ramadan," sais Mudher Kasim, a senior adviser in the […]
Various websites are quoting the Governor of Iraq's Central Bank, Mohammed Salih, as saying the he wants to delete three zeros from the Iraqi currency after the formation of the new Iraqi government. In a reported interview with “Alsumaria News”, he said the amount of Iraqi dinars in circulation has increased from 25 billion in […]
An unusual feature of many of the listed Iraqi banks is that investments account for a greater share of their deposits than loans. This is true, for example, of Mansour Bank (BMNS), National Bank of Iraq (BNOI), Commercial Bank of Iraq (BCOI), Gulf Commercial Bank (BGUC), Bank of Baghdad (BBOB), and Middle East Investment Bank […]
The Erbil Stock Market will start trading during the first quarter of 2011, the project’s executive director said on Tuesday, explaining that the market startup capital will be around $10 million. “This market should become the strategic axis that will transform the economy of Kurdistan from relying on oil revenues to producing income through local […]
The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) will be closed from September 9-13 due to the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr. Trading will resume on September 14. Border crossings and airports in Kurdistan will remain open.
