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CNN. Broadcasting From The Next Dubai - So Now's The Time To Buy ! http://iraqdailyjournal.com/st.....-z15668118 KURDISTAN REGION: UNTAPPED ECONOMIC POTENTIAL 29th July, 2017 I have no doubt that the economy of the Kurdistan Region will experience significant growth as early as next year. There are several reasons why. After ISIL overtook Mosul in August 2014, the Peshmerga, Kurdistan’s defense forces, showed immense bravery in their fight, preventing the terrorists from taking Erbil and moving deeper into Iraqi Kurdistan territory. The news was all the more devastating considering that the U.S. and its allies had previously trained and equipped hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and policemen, who fled the 1,500 ISIL fighters, handing over expensive U.S. weaponry, while the Peshmerga defended the Kurdistan Region with decades-old rifles. Before the emergence of ISIL, the Kurdistan region of Iraq experienced an economic “golden period,” with investments pouring in from all sides. Erbil, Suleimania and Dohuk looked to diversify their local economies, investing in the cement industry, tourism and the real estate industry. The Kurdistan Regional Government-Iraq (KRG) was referred to as the “next Dubai.” In 2011, FDI magazine ranked Erbil fifth in terms of opportunities for direct foreign investment and one of the most business-friendly cities in the entire Middle East. The ISIL attack on Kurdistan coincided with a dramatic drop in oil prices, forcing a rebalancing of budgets in most of oil revenue-driven economies, including Kurdistan. To make matters worse, 1.8 million refugees, mostly from Iraq and Syria, looked for a safe haven in the Kurdistan Region. The Iraqi central government’s payment of 17 percent of total revenues to the KRG, required by the Iraqi constitution, had not been honored by Baghdad due to internal political rifts. Moreover, the KRG struggled to meet its monthly obligations, which exceeded $1 billion. During the golden period, the KRG hired one out of six Kurds to work for the government, creating a monthly payroll obligation of more than $700 million. Progressive investment laws In the midst of it all, the KRG launched a comprehensive set of reforms to modernize its economy. To bring transparency into its oil sector, the KRG hired Deloitte to audit its oil production, exports and revenues. In partnership with the World Bank, the KRG committed to reforms in the electricity sector, with a goal to privatize. washingtontimes
