The Iraqi Industry Ministry has ordered its factories to work on generating electricity required for production, to minimize the load on the national electricity network. The ministry noted that power shortage is causing losses to its factories. “The ministry has issued contracts to purchase large generators for this purpose,” the ministry said in a press […]
Markets hate uncertainty, but history has shown us that times of uncertainty create the greatest opportunities. Warren Buffett's famous saying, “be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful”, is true whether referring to the stock market or to risk-taking in general. And Iraq is giving us plenty of risk and […]
By Tariq Abdell, Founder & Chairman, Mesopotamia Insight. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraq's Lebanized democracy coupled with its lingering and convoluted political impasse are perfect recipes for a week and sectarian-based government, that is shackled by the region's geopolitics […]
Twice in recent days, senior Iraqi government officials have stressed the need to solve the parliamentary stalemate internally within Iraq, without influence from outside: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki specifically warned the United States not to interfere in the country’s internal affairs, while Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi reportedly described it as “an internal affair and non-Iraqis […]
The visit to Iraq last weekend by US Vice-President, Joseph Biden, may help to accelerate the process of forming the next government, but the frustrating delays in reaching an agreement highlight the risks of doing business in 'frontier' countries. Often, though, our perception of risk can be out of step with reality, and what appears […]
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his main rival for the top position, Ayad Allawi, met on Tuesday to discuss a resolution to the ongoing parliamentary stalemate. This was only the second meeting between the two men since the inconclusive 7th March election. While this was welcome news, Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the prime minister, […]
Is your business in Iraq or going to Iraq or just thinking about it? Either way our community of subscribers and readers in 112 countries will almost certainly contain people who could become customers or influence buying decisions. Some of them may already be customers. Either way, telling them about your business, keeping your name […]
A number of companies participating in a Basra international fair revealed on Saturday their intention to seek investment opportunities in the province, the 'economic capital of Iraq', according to a source cited by AK News. The 5-day Basra International Fair opened on Friday, with the participation of more than 150 local and foreign companies specialising […]
Basra's governor has announced projects totalling more than 50 billion Iraqi dinars ($42m), according to a report from AK News. "Many projects will be implemented and financed from Basra's budget at a cost of more than 50 billion Iraqi dinars. The first project is to establish an industrial city for 40 billion dinars that includes […]
Before launching his war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, George Bush, the former US president, promised a strong independent Iraq. Instead the country has become a bloody battleground for regional and international forces, not to mention al-Qaeda. Today US, Israeli, Turkish, Saudi Arabian and Syrian forces compete to shape Iraq's political landscape. Sometimes this competition is fought […]
The General Company of Iraqi Ports is seeking investment in the new container port in Umm al-Qasr, in Iraq’s southern province of Basra, according to a report from AK News. “The international and local companies that have shipping lines specialized in container transportation must offer their investments to create, manage and operate the new containers […]
According to a report from AK News, the Iraqi government is planning to borrow $5 billion from the World Bank to fund its 2010 general budget deficit, Iraq’s acting Finance Minister said Wednesday. Iraq’s budget for 2010 is suffering a deficit of IQD23 trillion Iraqi dinars [approx $19bn] which the government is planning to narrow […]
