Advisor to the Prime Minister: Government measures put Iraq at the forefront of countries in foreign investment, 9 APRIL

 Advisor to the Prime Minister: Government measures put Iraq at the forefront of countries in foreign investment

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, revealed today, Tuesday, government measures that put Iraq at the forefront of countries in foreign investment, while indicating that the development path and the Al-Faw port have strengthened the government’s vision in encouraging foreign investments. 

Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The Iraqi economy is characterized by two basic features that help give it preference in foreign investment. First, cash flows in foreign currency are reflected in the current account of the balance of payments relative to the gross domestic product, which is estimated by international economic and national centers at a surplus estimated at (positive). 7%) Iraq also ranks second in OPEC oil production and fifth in the world in that production.

He added: “As for the second advantage, there is a wide range of investment opportunities available provided by transportation, digital communications, housing and construction activities, which end with encouraging partnership between the state and the private sector in the manufacturing industry and various technological fields, the latest of which was the Cabinet’s adoption of the facilitating instructions in its last meeting that encourages the existing partnership between...

The state and the private sector, which is based on the principle of mutual win-win and is an attractive signal for foreign direct investment,” pointing out that “the investment law frames the provision of an attractive investment environment for investors, especially the economic surplus trends of the countries of the region and their orientation towards profitable investments in Iraq in the industrial, agricultural and other fields, which... It gives a positive signal to international investment in general to be attracted to Iraq and investigate promising opportunities there.”

He stressed that “the Development Road Project, as a development strategy that adopts the idea of ​​development-leading projects, constituted the central call for international companies to participate, starting from the port of Al-Faw and ending with the Turkish border, for economic connection with Europe, which... This means that the state's economic vision is based on encouraging direct foreign investments in development activity in Iraq, whose natural resources are abundant in the ground.

He explained, “Iraq is ranked ninth in the world in terms of natural resources in the ground, and ranked first in reserves per square kilometer of investable natural resources such as (phosphate, sulfur, and other important reserves).

A study conducted by the FDI Intelligence website, which specializes in foreign direct investment affairs, stated that “Iraq was ranked fourth among ten countries in the latest classification, and this classification was evaluated based on several criteria, including growth in gross domestic product, the inflation rate, growth in capital spending in foreign direct investment, and the growth rate in foreign direct investment projects.”

The study indicated that “the growth rate of Iraq’s gross domestic product reached 2.9%, while the inflation rate reached 3.6%, and the growth rate in capital spending in foreign direct investment witnessed an increase of 371%, and the growth rate in foreign direct investment projects reached 95 percent.” %,” indicating that “these numbers reflect the noticeable improvement in the investment climate in Iraq and the efforts made to strengthen the economic sector and attract more foreign direct investments.”  link