The latest news from Baghdad – security updates, business, construction projects and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News
Property prices rose fast in Baghdad in recent years, going up 50% and even 100% in many places. Now, Nina News reports that property-price rises in Wasit Province, halfway between Baghdad in central Iraq and Basra in the south-east, are "insane". Prices in the province are far exceeding those of neighbouring ones. The price per […]
A group of Russian companies has been offered the project to build a monorail in Baghdad, according to Aswat al-Iraq. “Baghdad’s Hanging Train [monorail?] project, offered tp Russian companies, is expected to stretch for 25 kms, with a total capacity of 10,000 passengers per hour, through 16 stations, distributed between Baghdad’s two banks of Rusafa […]
The Tigris River which bisects Baghdad and several other major Iraqi cities has about one billion cubic meters of polluted materials dumped into it, according to a senior environment expert. Azzaman news agency quotes Kamel al-Saadi, Baghdad Province’s expert on the environment, as saying that pollution was increasing in the river “at an alarming rate” […]
Baghdad International Fair expects its largest participation since the 2003-U.S. invasion when it starts its 37th session next week, according to a report from Azzaman. The fair’s director-general, Sadeq Sultan, said the 10-day fair will see 1,200 foreign firms taking part as well 15 foreign countries. This is quite a change from the 300 companies […]
Iraq's developing situation continues to astound me when I contrast it with much of the west. Take the UK, where Prime Minister David Cameron has on 20 October announced £81bn ($127bn) of cuts from total government expenditure of £661bn ($1,040bn), the largest budget cuts in decades by a large margin. All this it needs to […]
...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 […]
With gold recently hitting highs of nearly $1,400 per ounce, an armed raid on a row of goldsmiths' shops in Baghdad has left at least nine people dead. The gunmen used hand grenades and small arms to kill three gold shop owners in a market in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry […]
Iraq is to get new power plants in order to boost its energy capacity by 2,500 megawatts, reports Reuters. This will significantly add to its meagre total current production, which is around 5,500 megwatts. All the contracts for the 20 gas turbines, which were bought from General Electric, have been awarded to three Turkish companies. The contracts are […]
A U.S.-Turkish delegation met the Chairman of the Baghdad Investment Commission on Wednesday to discuss the establishment of two factories for gypsum and Pepsi, according to a statement of the BIC. “The BIC Chairman, Shaker al-Zamel [Shaker A. Shibeeb], received a delegation from a U.S.-Turkish company to set up two factories to produce gypsum and […]
Azzaman news agency reports that the Iraqi government has agreed to allocate $10 billion for the reconstruction of Sadr City, and that talks with international firms have reached an advanced stage. Sadr City is on the outskirts of Baghdad and is perhaps Iraq’s most impoverished town, but if the reports are correct is should become […]
German airline Lufthansa has postponed its scheduled Sept. 30 startup of a Munich-to-Baghdad route, citing a lack of customer interest, according to a report from Businessweek. Company spokesman Christoph Meier said that bookings "were far below the expectations", and that no new date had been set for the launch of the service. The news is […]
The Baghdad Municipality is to build three major housing projects in the capital’s outskirts for low-income families. Azzaman report that the projects, work on which is to start soon, will include 395,000 housing units and will be sold to low-income families at reduced prices, according to Hakeem Abedzahra, the municipality’s spokesman. The first project of […]
