Supporting Entrepreneurship in Iraq – The Challenge of Translating Mandates to Action
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Most development agendas for Iraq putatively support entrepreneurship and the need to support private sector development through its focus on the growing number of unemployed youth in the country. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently […]
Trade Bank of Iraq Under Investigation
Iraq's prime minister ordered a judicial investigation on Thursday into one of the country's biggest banks, the Trade Bank of Iraq, saying it was suspected of committing "violations", according to a report from Reuters. The bank's president and chairman, Hussein Al-Uzri, could not be reached for comment. A British adviser to the bank's board, Sir […]
Hill Intl Shares Jump on $1.5b Iraq Deal
Shares in Hill International (NYSE:HIL) jumped 59% on Thursday following the company's announcement that it has received a contract from TRAC Development Group, a South Korean real estate developer, to provide project management and construction management services in connection with a major housing development in Iraq. In addition, Hill's majority-owned subsidiary HillStone International, LLC has […]
Iraq Govt Allocates $2bn to Low-Cost Housing
The Iraqi government has allocated $2 billion [2.4 trillion Iraqi dinars] to build low cost housing for ‘limited income families’, the country’s Minister of Reconstruction and Housing, Mohammed Al Daraji, said during a press conference Baghdad.. The project should begin in 2012, provided that the Iraqi Cabinet determines the distribution mechanism. The minister said that […]
KRG Cabinet Discusses Allocation of New Budget
Following the Kurdistan Parliament’s approval of the regional budget for 2011, Prime Minister Salih's cabinet met on Tuesday 31 May to discuss distributing the budget efficiently and quickly in order to best serve the people of the Kurdistan Region. The meeting was co-chaired by Prime Minister Salih and Acting Deputy Prime Minister, Karim Sinjari. The […]
Weekly Security Update for 2nd June 2011
Overview Readers of the weekly update will recall that the last entry detailed one of the most hostile seven days since AKE began contributing to Iraq Business News. Fortunately conditions improved over the course of last week. There was a fall (by half) in the number of bombings reported, while shootings declined as well. Kidnap […]
Has al-Maliki Painted Himself into a Corner?
Ninety-five days ago, Nouri al-Maliki set himself, or more specifically, his ministers, a target: They had 100 days to improve public services and root out corruption. Since then, progress has been made in important areas such as the provision of electricity, but many of these projects will take time to implement. In the meantime, protests […]
KOGAS Deal for Akkas Gas-Field is Signed
Iraq signed an agreement with the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) to begin developing the Akkas natural-gas field, an Oil Ministry official said, ending seven months of delays in progress at one of the country’s biggest deposits of the fuel. Representatives of KOGAS and Iraq's Ministry of Oil signed the contract on Wednesday in a ceremony […]
Iraq Exports Hit 2.23 Million bpd in May
Iraq exported oil at a rate of 2.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, with record revenue this year of $7.4 billion, according to Falah al-Amri, chairman of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) Iraq sold crude at an average price of $108 a barrel last month, he said today in a telephone interview […]
Retaliation Against Iraq's Union Activists
According to a report today from Iraq Oil Report, union activists in Iraq's oil sector have been fined and relocated to remote locations as part of a campaign of seeming retaliation against their role in organising workers. The agency also says that following a separate stoppage at the Basra refinery in 2010, 16 workers were […]
A Russian suitor for Warka?
In March ISX-listed Qimma Financial Investment (VQUF) announced that Warka Bank’s majority shareholder, Saad Al Bunnia, had appointed it to “begin a formal auction process following a due diligence report carried out by Price Waterhouse Coopers.” The announcement, which was posted on Qimma’s website, went on to say that Mr. Bunnia was “interested in entertaining […]
Trade Delegation and British Pavilion at Erbil International Fair
The MEA, in partnership with UK Trade & Investment, Invest Northern Ireland and the Kurdistan Regional Government, will be leading a Trade Delegation to Iraqi Kurdistan this October to coincide with the seventh Erbil International Trade Fair, Iraq’s largest general trade exhibition. Mission Participants will have the opportunity to exhibit at the Fair’s British Pavilion, […]