Well... I live in Indonesia and pretty much a lot of things are on hold during Ramadhan..... restaurants are asked not to open during the day or if they do open they must cover it from the sights. Spas, night clubs , etc are to be closed or impose to adopt a limited open hours (like only 3 hours a day). Banks are open but adopt shorter days.. as well as goverment offices. Although in reality most are not making any decisions, or heavy transaction until after Ied Fitr. D-7 and D+7 majority of business including banks will be closed. Schools especially state schools even taking a whole month holiday or again, adopt very short days without a lot of activities. Most of bussinessmen take the attitude "waiting" until after the Ied holidays. So, I'm imagining the same thing in Iraq as well....I think that beside the respect that is given towards the holy month, it's just hard to remain active and excited when you are hungry and thirsty all day!
My 2 dinar!
Cheers!