By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. This article was originally published on the Emerging Economics blog. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. We have been working with a substantial international company in Iraq […]
By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. This article was originally published on the Emerging Economics blog. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. It has been long in the making but it looks like […]
Credit must go to Nouri al-Maliki for admitting publicly that the number of ministries is a burden on the state. The Prime Minister's proposal to reduce the number in a two-stage process, the first of which will still see 29 ministers retain their positions, seems at first glance to be a move in the right […]
Iraq Business News is very pleased to be able to report some positive developments for our readers and for all who are interested in business in Iraq: AAIB Insurance Brokers, Iraq Insurance, part owner of IBN, has just launched a convenient and cost-effective travel insurance facility for anyone wishing to visit Iraq. To find out […]
Here at Iraq Business News we have on several occasions raised the issue of restrictions on foreign workers entering Iraq. This week, the problem raised its head once again when the leader of the business federation in Basra, Sabih Habib al-Hashemi, criticised the lack of skilled managers in the country: “Most of the economic issues […]
By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. "Something we could not have predicted five months ago is that Iraq would emerge as the most advanced Arab democracy in the entire region. As messy as it is, when you think back to the months and months that it […]
By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News. Let me start by asking a question: why is gas less talked about than oil in Iraq? I am not sure why this is the case but it does seem to […]
US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, didn't mince her words: "According to the IMF, Iraq is projected to grow faster than China in the next two years. Now, let me repeat that, because when I read it I said, okay, are you sure because we always think of China as being the juggernaut? But […]
As Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's 100-day deadline passed this week, no ministerial heads have rolled; the delicate power balance in cabinet would not have allowed it. While it's true that any dismissals from cabinet should take account of the scale of Iraq's challenges, and the fact that it would have taken much longer than 100 […]
Ninety-five days ago, Nouri al-Maliki set himself, or more specifically, his ministers, a target: They had 100 days to improve public services and root out corruption. Since then, progress has been made in important areas such as the provision of electricity, but many of these projects will take time to implement. In the meantime, protests […]
Despite the well-known challenges facing the country, Iraq's business is on a steep upward trend. Foreign investment, for example, increased by almost 50% last year, and there are no indications that money will not continue to flow into the country. In the past week alone, we've reported on a Korean company signing a deal for […]
We reported last week on the withdrawal of the Kazakhstan-based KazMunaiGas from negotiations on the Akkas gas field in Anbar province. This week the head of KMG, Askar Balzhanov, shed more light on the background to the company's decision, and it reflects very poorly on the Iraqi authorities: "One of the reasons for our withdrawal […]
