Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraqi politics news, keeping you up to date with the latest information and developments.
Annual inflation in Iraq is now 6.3%, according to government figures. It is likely this is due to rising commodity prices. Government receipts for oil in the last quarter were up 19% to US$20bn, the highest since before the Iraq War began. The dinar was unchanged versus the dollar during the quarter. The International Monetary […]
Everywhere from Northern Ireland to China have sought bilateral agreements to benefit from the rapid growth of Iraq. Now it is Syria's turn. Mohammed Nidhal, Syria's minister of trade, headed to Iraq with a delegation of more than 100 Syrian businessmen. The two countries pledged to increase trade between them. Khayrullah Babakir, Iraqi minister of trade, said "The […]
The UN has approved the release of another US$1bn from the reparations fund that compensates Kuwaiti businesses, government bodies and international organisations for losses due to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Iraq has now repaid more than $33bn of its $52bn due in damages claims. The $1bn comes from a 5% cut of Iraqi oil […]
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Naser al-Subah, have been talking directly by telephone to try to prevent a diplomatic crisis from worsening. A spokesperson for Maliki said on Monday that Kuwait had shown "more flexibility" in ongoing discussions over a new Kuwaiti port. Mubarak Port, due to be completed in 2016, […]
The following article was published in the latest edition of Inside Iraqi Politics, and it is reproduced here with the publisher’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Full Text of Inside Iraqi Politics Issue No. 19 (PDF) The government’s aggressive energy […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. A New Iraq or Perspective Updated: First Mover Advantage? Sipping my iced coffee at Costa, a coffee shop in Erbil, I (and everyone else at the coffee house) noticed with insouciance a group of young American […]
By By Mu Chunshan. Originally published in The Diplomat, and re-produced with permission by Iraq Business News. The visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to China didn’t just fail to grab much international media attention – there was also little coverage in the Chinese media, too. Most Chinese associate Iraq with Saddam Hussein and […]
An Iraqi MP has stoked rising political tensions with Kuwait, by claiming that Kuwait has been stealing Iraqi oil through slant-drilling. According to the report from the Kuwait Times, he emphasized that the parliamentary committee, of which he is a member, will investigate the issue. MP Oday Awwad, a member of Iraq's parliamentary energy committee, […]
This article was written by Hazim al-Sharaa, and was originally published by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, iwpr.net. It is reproduced by Iraq Business News with permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The ministry of labour has drawn criticism […]
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 […]
Real progress had been achieved in replacing Iraq’s ruthless dictatorship with institutions mandated by constitutional principles, which laid the ground for “cautious optimism” about the future, provided that determined national leadership and a stronger spirit of cooperation in the region prevailed, Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General told the Security Council today. Briefing the […]
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 […]
