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AECOM Technology Corporation (NYSE: ACM), a leading provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients around the world, announced today that it was been awarded a five-year, US$53-million [63 billion Iraqi dinars] contract from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide economic-consulting services to Iraq through the Iraq Financial Sector Development Program.

The work is intended to improve the soundness of the Iraqi private financial sector through institution building and targeted economic reforms, and improving the quality and availability of finance and business education.

The contract builds on AECOM's long-standing partnership with USAID in its efforts to rebuild Iraq's economy.

About AECOM

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government. With approximately 46,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence in delivering solutions that enhance and sustain the world's built, natural, and social environments. A Fortune 500 company, AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of $6.3 billion during the 12-month period ended March 31, 2010. More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com.

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• USAID Study Details Advances by Iraq’s Microfinance Industry

A senior official in the Iraqi Central Bank said that inflation in Iraq continuedto fall in June and reached 2.7%, compared with 3% in May.

The Central Bank of Iraq slashed its base rate by 100 basis points to six per cent in April in reaction to subdued inflation, though the interest rate is considered by some to be 'symbolic', in a country recovering from war and which is still isolated from the international monetary system.

The Iraq Central Bank excludes oil prices from the inflation definition it uses.

(Source: al-Sumaria TV)

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• USAID Study Details Advances by Iraq’s Microfinance Industry
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USAID through its Provincial Economic Growth Program, today released State of Iraq’s Microfinance Industry, a 52-page report that describes the growth and emerging trends of a microfinance industry that rapidly is building financing systems accessible to all Iraqis.

Iraq’s microfinance industry was established seven years ago with financial and technical assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Today, the industry consists of 14 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve all 18 of the country’s provinces. Since the industry’s inception in 2003, more than 204,710 loans, collectively worth $470 million, have been disbursed.

“The industry report released today clearly shows that low-income Iraqis have embraced microfinance as a way to build better lives for their families,” says Paul Bruning, USAID’s director of Economic Growth and Agriculture in Iraq. “The high level of public interest indicates that Iraqi MFIs are achieving their goal of providing the types of financing that a healthy economy requires.”

Prior to 2003, Iraqis needing loans to build homes, expand businesses or improve farm production were forced to seek assistance from largely inaccessible state and commercial banks or exploitive money lenders. Today, low cost microfinance loans mean that Iraq’s 7.1 million low-income people can finally build a base from which they can climb out of poverty. Murabaha Islamic loans that are structured to eliminate interest entirely also are available.

Iraqis receiving microfinance loans have a remarkable record of repayment. Ninty-nine percent of the loans are repaid in full on time. Only one percent have repayments delayed for more than 30 days. On time repayments by borrowers helped Iraqi MFI loan portfolios to grow 31% for the one-year period ending June 2010. Perhaps even more significant is the fact that 15% of the outstanding microfinance loans are held by women, many of whom operate cottage industries that had no access to business financing prior to the start of Iraq’s microfinance industry.

Since 2009, the legal and regulatory framework for the sector improved with the issuance of the new NGO (non-governmental organizations) Law. The greatest accomplishment to date for the sector was the Central Bank of Iraq’s recognition of microfinance as an effective intermediary for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

The State of Iraq’s Microfinance Industry report highlights the important initiatives introduced at the industry level because of the MFIs’ sector development approach. Taking the lead in donor coordination and creating stakeholder platforms for engaging with the Iraqi microfinance sector, USAID has been at the forefront of championing transparency, accountability, and technology-based solutions to directly benefit Iraqi families. Structural reforms based on internationally-accepted best practice standards are moving the microfinance industry into the mainstream of Iraq’s recovering economy.

“Only by building a pro-poor financial system can Iraq ensure that disadvantaged groups such as youth, women and internally displaced persons will have access to financial services,” says Muhammed Junaid, USAID-Tijara’s Director of Microfinance.

The report concludes by describing the future directions for the sector. It lists the enabling environment measures policymakers, donors and other stakeholders can implement to assure the smooth transition of the Iraqi microfinance industry into its next phase of growth.

Click here to download the full report.

Iraq’s rapidly growing microfinance industry reached a major milestone this month when the Al-Tadhamun (TDMN) microfinance organization opened its third branch office in the Northern Province of Ninawa. The opening brings the total number of microfinance branches and satellite offices across Iraq to 100 and underscores the success Iraq’s MFI sector has achieved in its drive to provide wider access to inclusive, quality financial services across the country.

Assisted by the U.S. Agency for International Development and its implementing partner, the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program (Tijara means trade in Arabic), the Iraqi microfinance sector encompasses 14 microfinance institutions (MFIs), two of which are international while the remaining 12 are indigenous.

Located in all of Iraq’s 18 Provinces, the industry currently serves over 62,000 clients with an outstanding portfolio of $84 million. MFIs are the primary providers of financial services and technical assistance for impoverished Iraqis previously excluded from the country’s financial sector. Iraqi microfinance institutions have disbursed more than $420 million in loans since the industry’s inception in late 2003.

Hiwa Salih Mahmud started Barin Aluminum in Sulaymaniyah with a $2,500 loan from the Al-Thiqa Small Business Loan Fund. Two subsequent microfinance loans, each for $2,500, enabled him to become a recognized manufacturer of residential aluminum doors and window frames. Today, his company is large enough to qualify for an SME bank loan but he continues to do business with Al-Thiqa. “I feel comfortable with microfinance loan officers,” says Hiwa, “because they really care about the working poor.”

Al-Tadhamun was established in 2008 with assistance from USAID and other U.S. Government sources as part of its strategy to support the development of indigenous MFIs in Iraq. As the security situation improved in 2009, TDMN began lending operations. It is now providing loans to agri-businesses and micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs). It recently began offering Islamic finance products based on the Al-Murabaha system. These Islamic products meet the need for Shariah-compliant financial products in the Sunni communities where TDMN predominantly operates.

TDMN and three other MFIs - Al-Aman, Al-Thiqa and the Talafar Economic Development Center (TEDC) - provide financial services to low-income people in conflict-prone provinces located between Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and the central part of the country. Together, these four MFIs have 5,639 clients and a cumulative outstanding portfolio of U.S. $7.1 million. Despite their impoverished circumstances, Iraqis receiving loans are remarkably responsible clients. Indeed, as of June 2010 the portfolio of at-risk loans amounted to less than one percent of the total portfolio.

MFIs are the most rapidly growing providers of finance in Iraq. Between 2004 and 2010, the industry had a cumulative annual growth rate of nearly 32%. By early 2009, this growth changed the dynamics of the Iraqi microfinance sector. MFIs gained increased independence as demand-driven financial service institutions. Today, they are increasingly recognized by the Iraqi NGO Assistance Office and the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) for reaching out to the poor with unprecedented ability to scale-up impact.

The biggest driver for the Iraqi microfinance sector remains the vast, unmet demand for quality microfinance services. Twenty-three percent of the country’s 7.1 million people live on $2.20 per day or less. With less than one percent market penetration, the emerging Iraqi microfinance industry continues to face significant challenges of operating in a post-conflict environment.

As MFIs mature and the sector establishes itself as a sustainable provider of financial services, their access to growth and investment capital will determine their ability to remain sustainable. Already, MFIs such as Al-Bashaer, Al-Thiqa, Al-Aman, Amalkom, Izdiharona, Relief International and CHF International are profiled on the Microfinance Information Exchange, the global data gathering and analysis platform.

USAID-Tijara's support of Iraq’s microfinance industry reflects the importance the Barack Obama administration places on helping poor people build productive lives. President Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, played a key role in building the microfinance industry in Indonesia. Today, Indonesia’s microfinance industry is No. 1 in the world in terms of savers with 31 million members.

“I think it’s fair to say that her work in international development, the care and concern she showed for women and for poor people around the world, mattered greatly to her son, and certainly has informed his views and his vision,” says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The USAID Inma Program helps farmers improve quality, increase quantity, and reduce costs of production. This was the message coming out of

a conference held in the Kurdistan regional capital Erbil .about the current situation of the agriculture sector in The aim was to increase local agricultural production so that it can supply the regional and part of the national markets' demands.

The conference was organized at the Hawler Theatre Hall in the Erbil International Hotel (EIH) on March 30, with the participation of the director of the Inma Project Mr. Ross Wherry, KRG Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Mr. Jamil Sulaiman Haidar plus a number of local and international experts in the field of agriculture, farmers and representatives from the private sector.

The conference started with an opening speech by Wherry, in which he explained the objective of the one-day conference to send a message to the farmers in Kurdistan Region: "Where are your agricultural products? What is your plan for food safety and what are you future plans for the improvement of the agriculture sector and increasing the production?"

The director of the USAID-funded Inma Project said that their aim is to tell the farmers of northern Iraq how to minimize their production costs and earn money in return for the money they spend.

"We believe in the farmers of northern Iraq in terms of producing vegetables and fruit," said Wherry "and we support the farmers not in terms of giving them money, but in terms of providing them with technology and information about how to improve quality and reduce costs."

Experts participating in the conference stated that the conference was very important for this stage of agricultural development in the region, particularly in terms of transferring new science and technology . This is in addition to making use of the academic research being conducted by university agricultural students.

Farmers at the conference reiterated that KRG's efforts to support the agriculture sector has been significantly successful and has had considerable positive impact but it still needs to make further progress.

The objective of Inma is to increase the competitiveness of Iraqi agriculture and agribusiness, helping reverse the negative effects of decades of central planning. It supports the development and expansion of commercial agribusiness enterprises producing and marketing high-value horticultural and animal products that enjoy immediate acceptance in the Iraqi consumer market.

Iraq, and especially Kurdistan Region, has a big agricultural potential, but it has not been utilized in a modern way with use of new technologies due to the wrong policies of the respective regimes in the country that neglected this vital source of Iraq's economic development.

Currently a large portion of Iraq's agricultural lands are not cultivated and have been abandoned by farmers who immigrated to the city centers in search of higher income and improved living standards.

Thus, experts think that government and aid organizations' support is essential for the agriculture sector of the country to boom again and save the country from the threat that imported food is currently posing on Iraqis' health and food safety.

( Kurdish Globe )