Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraqi politics news, keeping you up to date with the latest information and developments.
By John Lee. The CEO of Standard Chartered in Iraq has said that the bank is in talks with Iraq’s Finance Ministry to take part in a $2-billion bond sale this year. Andreas Meletiou also told Bloomberg that the London-based bank is also holding talks with other government institutions about their financing needs. A planned […]
Bold steps needed to give hope to ethnic and religious groups facing an uncertain future The United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye (pictured), has urged the Government of Iraq to take rapid and concrete steps to guarantee the future of some of the country’s most threatened and marginalized ethnic and religious groups […]
By John Lee. The Iraqi Defence Minister is reportedly working on a draft law to make military service compulsory. According to BasNews, the ministerial council has recently suggested the bill, and the governmental advisory committee is now working on it before presenting it to the council of ministers. If the draft law is approved by the […]
International Women’s Day: Calls for Greater Representation in Decision-Making as Iraqi Women Continue to Suffer from the Crisis UN Women, in partnership with the Women Parliamentary Committee, organized a high-level event today at the Council of Representatives (Parliament) in Baghdad to mark International Women’s Day. The event comes at a particularly difficult time for Iraqi […]
By John Lee. The US government has said it will allow the Iraqi government to postpone the payment of $2.7 billion for arms purchases. On a visit to Baghdad, US Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk (pictured) met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Speaker of Parliament Saleem al-Jibouri, and the governors of Diyala, Salah ad-Din, Ninewa […]
Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on Iraq's Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at 'B-'. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'B-' and the Short-Term foreign currency IDR at 'B'. KEY RATING DRIVERS The revision of the Outlook reflects the following key rating drivers: […]
By John Lee. Tasnim News Agency reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to pay visits to Pakistan, Iraq and Austria in the coming weeks. President Rouhani is scheduled to visit Islamabad first, before heading to Baghdad and Vienna. (Source: Tasnim News Agency)
By Mustafa Saadoun, for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Plunging oil prices are now affecting ordinary civil servants’ salaries in Iraq. Al-Monitor met with an employee of the Ministry of Culture who, on condition of anonymity, shared his plan of submitting a […]
Head of KRG Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa, today welcomed the new Head of Embassy Office of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Young-Kyu Park. On behalf of the KRG, Minister Mustafa congratulated Mr. Park on his new post and assured him of the DFR’s full support to ensure the success of his mission. The Minister […]
By John Lee. Iraq’s Commission of Integrity has referrd four former senior officials to court on charges of corruption. Middle East Monitor reports the the Commission referred two former deputies of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the former director of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s military office, and Baghdad’s former mayor. Bahaa al-Araji, Saleh al-Mutlaq, Farouk […]
By Wassim Bassem for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Several groups appear to be vying to control Iraqis' social lives and liberties: organized crime, religious factions and even armed security forces. Motives range from money to fundamentalism, but the situation […]
By John Lee. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (pictured) has reportedly offered to pay the salaries of the KRG’s employees if it ceases its independent oil exports. Facing a financial crisis due to low oil prices, the KRG announced recently that its employees will be paid only partial salaries until further notice, and that unpaid wages […]
