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Establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund in Iraq

From the Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Prospects Of Establishing A Sovereign Wealth Fund In Iraq

Throughout history, financial crises have been met with innovative reform plans that help develop the resilience of a country’s economic system, except when it comes to Iraq.

All major oil producing countries have developed sovereign wealth funds to help mitigate the effects of potential price drops on their economies, but Iraq has yet to do so.

This has not only resulted in temporary budgetary issues for Iraq, but has also allowed serious economic challenges to become entrenched in both the political and social structures of the country.

A first glance at the current economic crisis would suggest the need for a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to overcome the impact of oil price drops.

However, Iraq’s economic challenges stem from legacy issues. Therefore, can a SWF help alleviate these historical challenges and bring about reform?

In effect, can a tool for financial diversification become a means for political and socio-economic reform?

Click here to read the full report by Mohammed Hussein Baraka.

The post Establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund in Iraq first appeared on Iraq Business News.

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Implications of the Coronavirus for Iraq

By Aymen Al-Faisal, for the Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Implications of the Coronavirus on the Overall Situation in Iraq

With the spread of the coronavirus globally, many countries around the world face several challenges in the absence of any looming solutions so far.

Economies are the most affected by this virus that led to restrict the movement and the freedom of travel between countries, limit the transport of goods by sea and land, and raise spending on precautionary measures to limit the virus spread.

Since the discovery of the virus in January, the stock market has not declined only in China, but it has impacted the Asian and the American markets as well.

Click here to read the full article.

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The debate over Iraqi Kurdistan’s share of Budget

The Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies has just published a new report from our Expert Blogger Ahmed Tabaqchali:

The current debate over the interpretation of the 2019 budget that governs the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) share of the federal budget in return for contributing 250,000 bbl/d to federal oil exports has echoes of the first conflict in April 2012 on the issue.

The adept quote above by the International Crisis Group (ICC), in its description of the relationship between the two sides leading to that conflict, is as applicable today as it was then, and over the many repeats of similar conflicts in the intervening years.

The current flare up is initiated by members of the federal parliament against the Government of Iraq (GoI) over its continuing payments to the KRG, under the terms of the 2019 budget, while the KRG has not or refused to honour its obligations under the terms of the same budget.

The internal and external dynamics of the players on both sides, the federal politicians and the regional Kurdish politicians, follow the same trajectory that led to countless struggles over this issue and others since 2003. Each side is not only blind and deaf to the other side’s needs and motives but views it with suspicion and mistrust.

Unless something breaks the mould, either an intervention by Iraq’s international stakeholders or a change in the balance of relative power between the two, both will continue to think and act in the same manner that each had acted in the past, while still expecting a different outcome for the conflict or a different response form the other side.

Read Ahmed Tabaqchali’s full report here.