By John Lee. The Iraqi government has said it is taking action to "end exemptions for some goods from import duties to increase income from border crossings". In a statement on Twitter, Minister of Finance Ali Allawi said: "Iraq is facing a dangerous situation; oil revenues are not enough to cover state expenditure, including the […]
Tag Archives | Import tariffs
Cabinet agrees Government Programme 2018-2022
The Cabinet held its weekly regular meeting in Baghdad on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi. It discussed the Iraqi government programme for 2018-2022, and adopted a covenant committing the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet to implementing the programme and to be held accountable for its delivery before parliament. […]
Outgoing Abadi signs blow to Turkish Imports
By Fehim Tastekin for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. While Turkey was eagerly anticipating a new government in Baghdad to sort out many problems with Iraq, a last minute decision by the outgoing prime minister has added a fresh item […]
New Import Tariffs Causing Port Chaos
By John Lee. A new 30-percent customs tariff in Iraq is reported to be slowing business at the port of Umm Qasr (pictured), which handles 80 percent of the country's imports, choking the port with thousands of uncollected cargo containers. But according to the report from Reuters, the new rate does not apply in Iraqi […]
A Wild Ride for the Dinar
By Mark DeWeaver. This has been quite a year for the Iraqi dinar. From a level of IQD 1,217: USD 1 at the end of 2014, the market rate for the currency weakened steadily during the first quarter, penetrated a key support level at 1,290 in late April, and reached a low of 1,379 on […]
Iraq Blocks Turkish Poultry Imports
By John Lee. The Iraqi government has been undertaking "a series of policy twists to restrict the exports of poultry products from Turkey." The chairman of the Turkish Poultry Promotion Group, Müjdat Sezer, part of the country’s Ministry of Economy, told GlobalMeatNews: "Iraq decided to stop all imports of full chickens from Turkey. We don’t know […]
The Mystery of Kurdistan's Border Taxes
This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Missing Millions? The Mystery of Iraqi Kurdistan's Border Taxes Money collected at Iraqi Kurdistan’s borders with Iran and Turkey should amount to hundreds of millions of dollars for the cash-strapped […]
Higher Iraqi Taxes hit Turkish Poultry Exporters
By John Lee. New taxes in force since the beginning of last week mean that Turkish producers exporting into Iraq now need to pay US$290 per ton of exported chicken meat, rather than $35 previously. As a result, the Turkish poultry sector, which has the fourth largest share in the world’s poultry market, risks losing […]
Iraqi Govt to Tighten Importation Regulations
From the beginning of 2012 the Ministry of Trade will strictly control the importation of goods into the country, says the minister. Khayrullah Hassan told AKnews that the ministry will work according to a quota system based on need, and all imports must attain its prior approval. “We will not allow businessmen to trade in […]
Higher tariffs on hold
On February 14, the National Iraqi News Agency reported that the import tariff increases originally scheduled to go into effect on March 6 are being suspended until further notice. (The story is at http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FFHEEK.) This is not surprising. With protestors already in the streets in some places, now can hardly be the best time to […]