The latest news from Baghdad – security updates, business, construction projects and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News
Overview Last week saw a rise in the number of attacks taking place in Iraq. Militant activity was concentrated in the centre of the country and in the northern city of Mosul. There were at least three suicide bombings in Anbar and Ninawa provinces while a Kurdish civilian was reportedly kidnapped in Kirkuk. As warned […]
Overview Recent days have seen deadly suicide attacks in Mosul and Ramadi. There has also been a worrying increase in the number of shooting attacks in Baghdad. However, last week otherwise saw a slight reduction in the total number of attacks taking place in Iraq. Incidents were concentrated in the capital, with no incidents recorded […]
Iraq's budget for 2011 was approved some months ago, but with the government now formed it is back on the table, according to AKNews. Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman said: "There is an agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to amend the current budget." Amendments are needed to resolve a […]
As Baghdad ponders fewer checkpoints, oil exports sent by sea face more checks. The capital has 870 security checkpoints, which have been blamed for slowing an already congested city down and inhibiting productivity. Some commuters must stop at half a dozen checkpoints each morning, sometimes waiting for an hour at just one of them. Many residents find […]
Baghdad's airport road was considered the most dangerous motorway in the world, but the city is now turning it into "the most beautiful street in the world", according to AFP. The US military had called it "RPG alley" (that's rocket-propelled grenade), as road users were at the receiving end of particularly frequent attacks during 2006 and 2007. […]
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 […]
