Four Million More Jobs By 2015
The Iraqi Planning and Development Ministry is to create four million new jobs by 2015, minister Ali Shukri said today. Speaking to AKnews, he said the jobs would be both public and private sector and will bring down the poverty rate from 23% to 16%. Private-sector employment is hampered by limited rights, such as a lack of […]
Iraqi Fears Over US Economy
Mohammed Saleh, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, highlighted his fears for Iraqi revenues due to the second leg of the financial crisis in the U.S.A., which was kickstarted by a credit-rating downgrade. With oil prices moving between $80 and $90, they are down from the $100 to $115 range they were trading in […]
Gulf Keystone Shares Up 12% On Huge Discovery
Gulf Keystone, the London Aim-listed, independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations exclusively in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, found its second massive oil discovery just days ago. The share price rose by more than a quarter on the news, and have now fallen back to +12%, putting them just over 120p. Gulf […]
Customs Revenue Falls By Two-Thirds
June revenue fell to less than $9m, the Directorate General of Customs reported. This is down more than two-thirds from US$27m in the same period last year. The office believes that changes to regulations that require quality-control certificates on imports, supplied by just two government contractors, has caused backlogs at border crossings, and reduced customs income. […]
7,000bpd From Swara Tika-1 Discovery Well
Hillwood International Energy, an independent oil and gas explorer from Dallas, Texas, and Marathon Oil Corporation, another independent, based in Houston, Texas, have gauged a large oil discovery on the Sarsang block north of Dohuk on the Zagros fold belt in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the Oil & Gas Journal. The total flow rates in the […]
Iraq And Oman Business Leaders Discuss Closer Ties
Khalil Bin Abdullah Al Khonj, chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) met Habib Yousr Al Hashmi, the Chairman of the Iraqi Businessmen Union, on Tuesday, according to Oman Tribune. Al Khonji talked about exchanging visits and delegations to enhance trade and investment between the two countries, and in both the private and public […]
New German Consul General Begins Mission in Erbil
Mr Rolf Ulrich, the new Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Kurdistan Region, was received today by the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir. In welcoming Mr Ulrich to the Kurdistan Region, Minister Bakir assured him that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) stands ready to extend […]
KRG Blacklists Building Companies
Since the start of the year, the Kurdistan Ministry of Planning has blacklisted seven local companies, an official said on Tuesday, according to AKnews. Ayyub Galali, head of companies classification at the ministry, told the agency that housing companies in the three provinces of Erbil, Sulaimaniya and Dohuk, have been penalized for shortcomings in their […]
Kuwaiti-Funded School Opens in Karbala
AKnews reports that a primary school funded by a Kuwaiti grant of more than $2 million [2.4 billion Iraqi dinars] was opened in Karbala on Wednesday. Opening the school, the undersecretary of the education ministry said that Iraq needs more than 5,000 schools to be opened during the next year to cope with the rising […]
Chinese Company to Build $79m Najaf Power Station
Najaf Provincial Council has made a preliminary agreement with a Chinese company for it to build a power station, the head of the energy committee in Najaf told AKnews. He said the $79 million [95 billion Iraqi dinars] oil-fired station will have a capacity of 100 megawatts. According to AKnews, the agreement came after the […]
Iraq's non-Oil Trade with Iran Reaches $4bn
The Iraqi Trade Ministry said Wednesday that the value of trade with Iran, discounting oil activities, has hit $4 billion [4.8 trillion Iraqi dinars] this year so far, according to a report from AKnews. The Director General of Foreign Economic Relations at the ministry, Hashem Hatem, told the agency that the Ministry is seeking to […]
Sweet Deals on 18 Govt Factories
In an effort to rebuild its ailing industrial sector, Iraq has relaunched a tender to rehabilitate 18 of its idle factories, for the second time this year, after failing to attract enough interest from foreign investors. Reuters quotes Abdul-Ghani Fakhri, director general of the investment department at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, as saying […]