PM Drops Lawsuits Against Journalists
By John Lee. Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi has ordered the dropping of all publishing lawsuits previously filed by his office against journalists and reporters. In a statement, his office said: "This order comes out of the Prime Minister's commitment to freedom of expression and support to the press as being the fourth power, which […]
Economic Activity Up Following Agreement
After easing almost a year of financial crisis and terrorism threat, the Kurdistan Region last week hosted the 10th Erbil International Fair attended by 250 companies from 16 countries. In the wake of initial agreement between Erbil and Baghdad to resolve oil export and budgetary issues, and of security advances to halt the ISIS threat, […]
China to Stop Increasing Iraq Oil Orders
By John Lee. Chinese oil companies are to maintain their purchasing of crude oil from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) at the 2014 level for next year, according to a report from Reuters. The decision has been attributed to a slowing of demand growth in China, the varying quality of Iraq's "Basra Light" crude, […]
Kuwait Agrees to Delay Reparations
By John Lee. Reuters reports that Kuwait has accepted an Iraqi government request to delay payment of $4.6 billlion in war reparations, pending further discussions in Geneva. The reparations were imposed by the U.N. Security Council following Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, but the country's finances have been strained by the falling oil price and […]
Currency Auction Results, 18th Dec
By John Lee. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has reported that 11 banks took part in its currency auction on Thursday. A total of $89,117,000 was sold at a price of 1166 Iraqi Dinars (IQD) per dollar. (Source: Central Bank of Iraq)
Dana Remains Committed to Iraq, Despite Claim
By John Lee. Sharjah-based Dana Gas and its consortium partners, Crescent Petroleum and Pearl Petroleum, is pursuing $100 million (117 billion Iraqi dinars) in payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). In a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the company said: "The LCIA [London Court of International Arbitration] Tribunal recently ordered the […]
Germany Continues to Encourage Investment in KRI
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, on Monday received Mr. Georg Enzweiler, on the occasion of his appointment as Germany’s new Consul General to the Kurdistan Region. Mr. Enzweiler expressed his pleasure to be appointed as his country’s Consul General to Kurdistan Region and hoped to further develop bilateral relations between Germany and the […]
Shiites, Sunnis Unite to Denounce Extremists
By Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Despite all the negative developments concerning extremist groups in the Middle East, they have had a positive impact on religious communities. Shiite and Sunni institutions in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to denounce […]
PM al-Abadi meets Iraqi Businessmen in UAE
By John Lee. Prime Minister Dr. Haider Al-Abadi met a number of locally-resident Iraqi businessmen in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. He listened to the views, observations and suggestions delivered by the investors related to the laws and travel procedures that should be facilitated, in addition to the significance of providing a suitable environment for […]
CEO Guilty in Iraq USAID Fraud
By John Lee. The former CEO of US-based engineering consulting firm Louis Berger Group has pleaded guilty to overbilling for reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bloomberg reports that Derish Wolff, 79, admitted that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) over nearly 20 years, enriching himself and his company with […]
GKP Shares Jump on Kurdistan Oil Update
By John Lee. Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) closed up more than 16 percent up on Tuesday, after the company issued an update on its operations at Shaikan, its key producing asset in Iraqi Kurdistan. The shares had been languishing at new lows earlier in the week, having lost more than three-quarters of their […]
Ghost Contractors sink Baghdad after Rains
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. The first rainfall of the season swept Iraqi cities Nov. 21, causing flooding in schools, houses and streets. Siham Ahmed, a student from al-Diwaniya city south of Baghdad, couldn’t get to […]