Iraqi Economy Made No Progress in 2010
| December 23, 2010 | Filled under Uncategorized |
The Iraqi economy, which is driven almost entirely by oil revenues, has made no progress in 2010 compared with the year before. The reasons behind the poor performance are a fragile security situation, destroyed infrastructure, a poor political situation caused by the search for personal gain [enormous corruption], and the complete absence of a road map to extricate the country from a state of torpor.
Despite rising oil prices, the Iraqi budget in 2010 has failed to address the growing needs to rebuild the infrastructure, to provide for the rationing system [introduced by the Saddam regime in the 1990s because of shortages caused by sanctions, but no government has since had the political will to abolish it] and to provide employment to millions in the labor force, including hundreds of thousands of university graduates. During the year, the budget was dominated by recurrent expenditures which amounted to 70% of expenditures while development expenditures amounted to 29%.
Economic experts suggest that the economic situation will continue to remain in poor condition until two factors are materialized: first, raising the levels of oil exports (which currently stand at less than 2 million barrels/day) and establishing security in the country to attract investments, both foreign and domestic. Experts estimate the cost of reconstruction at $187 billion.
On the positive side, the rate of exchange of the Iraqi dinar has remained stable at about 1,180 dinars for a U.S. dollar, and the foreign exchange reserves at the central bank have increased to $50 billion.
^
^
^
^
^
Related Iraqi Articles-
Buy New Iraqi Dinars and Put Them in a Drawer
Columbus Hooters to Visit Iraq, Kuwa
The Deletion of Three Zeroes From the Iraqi Currency Is a National Demand
Investing in Iraq- What Investors Have Been Waiting For
Crisis of Fiat Currencies: US Dollar Surpluses Converted Into Gold
Gold Dinar Will End Currency Wars
Recent Comments