The Iraqi Private Sector and Improving the Investment Environment in the National Development Plan 2024-2028

  The Iraqi Private Sector and Improving the Investment Environment in the National Development Plan 2024-2028

7/6/2024 Samir Al-Nusairi

 During the past three months, the Ministry of Planning and the specialized work teams have made efforts to prepare and prepare the National Development Plan 2024-2028, the draft of which addressed in detail the main challenges facing the Iraqi private sector and the main objectives aimed at achieving its effective contribution to improving the investment environment.

While I agree with what is stated in the plan, we emphasize the need to add the basic pillars stated in the private sector development strategy.

For the years 2014-2030, and in particular its three time periods, its four pillars, its four pillars, what has been achieved since its launch in 2014, and what has not been achieved.

It is also necessary to state what has been achieved from Iraq’s Vision 2030, which clearly outlined the path to achieving a “strong and developing private sector.”

In addition to determining what has been achieved during the implementation of previous national development plans and the economic, financial and banking reform strategy included in the government program of the current government and what is the real role through which the private sector should contribute with government participation and support in managing the overall economy. This requires providing a legislative environment and a stable business environment and focusing on the axes that aim to build sound preliminaries for the transition to a complete economic reform.

This is what we all agree on, but this requires the government and the private sector in all its banking, industrial, agricultural, energy, health, construction, tourism and service sectors to participate and cooperate in implementing the transitional, medium and long-term economic reform strategy.

This means involving the private sector in a greater role in economic decision-making and leading the market institutionally and legislatively through the following: 

 1- Contributing with the government to improving the business environment in Iraq and providing an encouraging investment climate to attract national and foreign capital in accordance with the government’s program and encouraging and stimulating the achievement of partnerships between the public and private sectors in financing and developing development projects that have achieved implementation rates. 

Good and its allocations are included in the general budgets of 2024 and 2025

 2- Contributing with the government to creating a new legislative environment based on Article (25) of the Permanent Constitution, the strategies and laws related to economic reform, the private sector development strategy, its pillars and specific contents, in a way that ensures its activation and leadership of the market in the future. 

 3- Maintaining and activating the partnership, dialogue and cooperation between the private sector and the government by taking rapid measures to activate the Private Sector Development Council and start its work under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, enacting a special law for it and forming a joint advisory council from the government and private sectors linked to the council that includes experts from the various economic sectors nominated by the council members and provides its advice and works according to a special system approved by the council.

 4- Contributing with the government in developing policies, mechanisms and strategies and participating in following up on their implementation to resolve the transition to time-programmed stages to a market economy. 

 5- Working with the government to provide additional sources of funding for the state’s general budget by adopting the development and diversification of resources towards raising the percentage of resources other than oil in the gross domestic product, by activating the real economy and diversifying sources of national income.

 6- Work to encourage the establishment and development of small, medium and micro enterprises in order to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, including the formation of specialized institutions for this purpose and issuing a special law to develop and advance these projects and determine their economic feasibility and benefit from the Riyada initiative launched by the Prime Minister and the National Lending Strategy launched by the Central Bank on 5/25/2024. 

 7- Cooperation in financing and ensuring the implementation of central plans to provide infrastructure to encourage and develop the private sector in industry, trade, agriculture, tourism, health, energy, construction, strengthening and services. 

8- Activating the role of specialized banks and private banks to provide soft loans to the national private sector, as well as finding solutions to the problems of taxes and accumulated interest incurred by owners of projects that have stopped production, and setting a short- and medium-term financial policy. 

 9- Coordination and cooperation with the relevant ministries and financial and statistical institutions, especially the Ministries of Planning and Finance, in building a financial and statistical information base and ensuring its transparency.  LINK