Iraq Wants Hundreds of US Billions
...and it looks like it is going to get it. Iraq has lofty investment targets for the next five years. Sami al-Araji, chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission, told Reuters: "We'd like to go ahead and shoot for $600 billion. We hope of course we can realize it, but we will be very happy if we […]
Concern for Iraq Oil
Iraq's oil pipelines are decades past their use-by-date. “We are afraid of anything happening to them,” said Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Shamma, according to Iraq Oil Report. US concerns for the ageing infrastructure were pushed as early as 2008, but now billions of dollars are being invested to create new pipelines to protect Iraqi oil […]
100s More Companies in Iraq
Kurdistan's sixth international trade fair in Erbil opened on Monday with 850 companies from 25 countries. Hundreds of companies are at the fair for the first time. Albert Awun of EFB Arak, which organised the fair, told AKnews: "The percentage of the participating new companies in the exhibition compared to last year is about 50%, while the […]
Iraq Output "Will Double"
The Iraq Central Bank said that the survival of a high oil price will double Iraq GDP, helping it to achieve its goals by improving the value of the dinar through economic growth. Speaking to IKHNews, adviser of the Central Bank, Mudhir Saleh, predicted the survival of oil prices in the $80-$85 range, which will double […]
Al-Maliki Turns to Iran
The strategies on Iraq of neighbouring states seem to be coming clearer. This week, al-Maliki has been in Iran to meet both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian head of state. Al-Maliki described the two countries' relationship as "strategic", saying: "We ask Iran and our neighbours to support our reconstruction and to boost economic […]
Karbala Gets More Money for Investment
The city of Karbala in central Iraq has stretched its 90bn-dinar budget ($75m) to hundreds of investment projects and has now been granted another 12bn dinars ($10m) by Iraq's Finance Ministry. As our blogger Stewart Blair wrote this month: "UAE property developers/investors have been active in the south where mixed use developments in Karbala are springing up […]
Did Iraq Lie About Oil Reserves?
Two weeks ago Iraq revised its estimates of oil reserves upwards, and this was immediately followed by Iran doing the same. Now Reuters reports that a former oil minister has cast doubt on the numbers and on the motivation of the governments in issuing the figures, saying that the estimates are politically motivated and not […]
$60m Allocated to Training Iraqi Oil Workers
Iraq's Oil Ministry announced on Sunday that it has allocated $60m [72 billion Iraqi dinars] from the international licensing contracts sold this year to the development of technical skills amongst Iraqi employees working in the oil sector. At a press conference in Basra, the training director of the ministry’s technical institute, Ali Rahim Fayyad, told […]
MerchantBridge Launches Mesopotamia Fund to Invest in Iraqi Equities
MerchantBridge, the international private equity group with diverse investment interests operating from Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, has launched an Iraq equity fund, the "Mesopotamia Equity Fund Ltd". The Mesopotamia Fund is an open ended fund that will capitalize on the expected long term growth of the Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX). […]
250 Generators to Improve Electricity in Missan
Aswat al-Iraq reports that 250 generators have arrived in Maysan [Missan] to improve the power network in the province. “Fifty generators arrived in Missan on Friday (Oct. 15) as part of the Iraqi government’s $100-million grant to the province,” Hussein Aziz, media spokesman for the Missan electricity department, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The province […]
LG Supports a Korean Language Course in Erbil
Eleven young Kurds finished a two-month course to learn Korean in a program sponsored by the LG company and the Kurdish-Korean Friendship Association. The programs aim wa to enhance bilateral cultural relations. "Learning the Korean language is a major link towards understanding the culture. Teaching the Korean language to Kurdish students is definitely a step […]
Bank capital increase deadlines a red herring
On October 6, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) announced new deadlines for the private sector banks to reach the capital targets it set for them last March. According to the CBI’s original timetable, the banks had until the end of this year to bring their capital up to ID 100 bn (US$ 85 mn), […]