PM's Advisor: Government has taken steps to revive manufacturing industry, 11 FEB

 PM's Advisor: Government has taken steps to revive manufacturing industry

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, confirmed that the government has taken steps to revive the manufacturing industry.

Salih told the official agency: "The revival of the manufacturing industry in Iraq is a strategic issue with multiple dimensions, the first of which is that the industrial operator, whether small, medium or large, is one of the most important activities responsible for employing 60% of the workforce."

He pointed out that "eliminating sustainable unemployment requires economic diversification, and the basics of diversification start with the industrial construction of Iraq. Secondly, the partnership with the private sector is an ideal solution for reviving the industrial sector itself, whether this partnership is in providing financing and government support or a partnership in ownership or capital. 

This requires a balance between the public interest and private interests, while ensuring the existence of a transparent regulatory environment with high governance that encourages effective cooperation in an integrated social market between the two parties," noting that "the partnership in management and ownership between the public and private sectors leads to stimulating innovation and technological development and encouraging research and development, in addition to investing in advanced manufacturing technology such as automation, artificial intelligence and 3D printing."

He stressed that "the financing partnership represents the provision of financial support to small and medium enterprises operating in the field of manufacturing to create an optimal operating lever," explaining that "the national development plan indicates efforts to rebuild the foundations of the manufacturing industry through real partnerships with the private sector, where the state contributes to guaranteeing sovereign financing for manufacturing industries by 85%, while the private industrial project bears 15% of the financing."

He continued that "this financing strategy is devoted to financing industrial projects at five levels, foremost of which are projects whose products are related to construction and housing or contribute to development road works, then pharmaceutical industries, petrochemical industries, and others," noting that "the government's economic philosophy, in accordance with the government program, is based on the partnership between the state and the market with broad social security, and this is what makes it work according to the social market theory, which is a departure from economic liberalism and its risks."

He explained that “Riyada Bank was established with the support of the state to provide small and medium-sized loans to young people, and this was preceded by the Prime Minister’s Riyada Initiative, which paved the way for this by providing thousands of loans to youth sectors and stimulating their innovations,” explaining that “this will lead to encouraging the country’s regulatory and investment environment and adopting policies that encourage competition, improve the business environment, and reduce bureaucratic regulations that may hinder the industrialization process and its rapid advancement.”   link