By Simon Kent. Supranational organizations and countries at the US State Department organized Washington donor conference have made pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars for Iraq. This will take some financial strain off the Iraqi government as it struggles to assist over 3 million displaced people, amid slumped oil revenue and ongoing war expenditure. […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) and the IMF's Christian Josz (head of the IMF Iraq mission) have announced a standby loan for Iraq, following weeks of negotiations in Jordan. The loan is conditional on Iraq taking certain measures, for example, complying with an IMF monitoring scheme to reduce public sector expenditure and make […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alak has said that Iraq is issuing bonds to the value of around $2 billion in the next few months, following last year's aborted issuance after investors demanded too high a yield. At the time, investors demanded an 11% yield on the bonds, and the issuance was handled […]
By Mark A DeWeaver. As of November 6, 18 of the 21 ISX listed banks have reported third quarter earnings. The numbers aren’t pretty. Rabee Securities’ latest corporate profits report shows bank-sector aggregate profits for the first nine months down 17% year-on-year. Taking out BUND, an obvious outlier with earnings growth of 115%, the decline […]
By John Lee. A new report from the International Monetary Fund says that Iraq's economy is expected to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as a result of the security crisis in the country. This follows a 4.2 percent growth in GDP in 2013 and 10.3 percent the previous year, and would be the first […]
By John Lee. A new report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that the Iraqi economy will contract this year due to continuing war against the Islamic State. In its October World Economic Outlook, it says that Iraq's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to shrink by 2.66 percent this year, down from […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that Iraq cut its gold holdings by a quarter in November. Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that the country's stocks fell to 29.9 tonnes. (Source: Reuters)
By John Lee. Iraq made its first major move in years to boost its gold reserves, joining central banks from emerging market economies such as Brazil and Russia in diversifying its foreign reserves. According to a report from the Lebanese Daily Star, central bank purchases have been one of the biggest drivers of gold's rally […]
By John Lee. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a seven-month extension of Iraq’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), to February 23, 2013. The SBA had been scheduled to expire on July 23, 2012. The extension, which had been requested by the Iraqi authorities, will provide them with time to implement the […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Outlook, makes the following forecasts for Iraq: The report sees strong growth continuing, with a figure of 8.8% projected for 2017.
Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement after a meeting with H.E. Nouri Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq in Washington on Tuesday: It was a pleasure to meet Prime Minister Al-Maliki today. Over the past several years, Iraq and the International Monetary Fund have engaged in a […]
The Ministry of Construction and Housing is to build a highway linking Baghdad with Turkey, according to a report from Azzaman. The 508 km road is to be financed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “This project is a challenge to the ministry since it assumes great economic significance for the country,” the ministry quoted […]
