Some Good Economic News from Iraq, 10 Years Later

An American correspondent emails me: "I don't need to read books to know how they (the Iraqis) live.....I suspect they lead a miserable existence. And, looking at photos of their life before 2003 they led a miserable existence then. All you have to do is look at their ramshackle houses and dirty streets to know that. And, they were hungry under Saddam...imagine they are hungry now."

To the contrary, Erbil, Iraq has lots of millionaires, rapid modernization and great beauty. Details on the economic boom in Northern Iraq.

More photos from Google images.

Erbil has been named the 2013 Tourism Capital by the Arab Council of Tourism. By 2014, Erbil expects to have four million tourists.

Perhaps so, but they need to get a better PR person....the only photos I've seen is narrow streets, brown adobe type houses, dirty streets.......I have to draw my conclusion with what the press presents since I have not been there and have no desire to go.

 They do need better PR, and recognize that they do. However, I doubt a big PR campaign will change the point of view of those who pays so little attention to Iraq news in particular or foreign news in general. They just don't want to hear about Iraq these days. That's probably because Americans feel rejected by the Iraqis, my correspondent contends. 

Ten years after the US invasion of Iraq, the country shows some positive economic news on which to build:

"The Iraqi economy grew 10.2 per cent last year and expects growth to accelerate to 14.7 per cent this year," according to the International Monetary Fund.

Iraq's oil industry has come back in a big way, April Yee reports in The (UAE) National newspaper. "In a relatively short time it has lured the world's biggest oil companies to redevelop its fields, topped its pre-war peak pumping levels and become the second-top producer in Opec."

Iraq's business tourism industry is growing rapidly, from 237,000 in 2011 -- 30,000 a year -- to a projected 350,000 in 2015. Major international hotel chains, including Marriott, Hilton, and Intercontinental, are opening hotels in Iraqi cities within the next two years, mainly in the stable northern region of Kurdistan.   

Iraqis are becoming tech-savvy. "Mobile penetration is at 83 per cent in Iraq. Internet penetration, while still low, is growing and satellite channels number in their hundreds," The (UAE) National newspaper reports. About one-quarter of the population has easy access to a computer, 10 percent of the population uses the Internet, and Facebook is growing wildly, connecting young people to a global social network. Facebook is the most visited website in Iraq, according to web measurement company Alexa.   

International fund managers "show very optimistic data for Iraqi GDP growth and massive share-price upside" on the Iraqi stock exchange, James Doran reports in The (UAE) National newspaper. The Iraq stock exchange has grown from 15 companies participating in 2004 to 88 companies participating in 2013,  The combined market capitalization of listed companies in the exchange has grown five to seven times since the exchange opened in 1997.  

The American decision to invade Iraq in 2003 will be debated for decades. From afar, it still looks like a catastrophe, with frequent news of suicide bombings, sectarian strife, and undependable electricity. But if you visit the thriving oil-rich Iraq city of Irbil, you'd probably say the decision was a good one. An economic boom fueled by oil production is helping the northern Kurdish region to develop rapidly, making it prosperous as well as stable. Sympathy for America runs strong in the Kurdish region, the AP reports, on the 10th anniversary of the American invasion:

Rebaz Zedbagi, a partner in the Senk Group, a road construction and real estate investment company with an annual turnover of $100 million, said his success would have been unthinkable without the war. The 28-year-old said he won't do business in the rest of Iraq, citing bureaucracy and frequent attacks by insurgents, but said opportunities in the relatively stable Kurdish region are boundless.

"I believe Kurdistan is like a baby tiger," said Zedbagi, sipping a latte in a Western-style espresso bar in the Family Mall, Irbil's largest shopping center. "I believe it will be very powerful in the Middle East."

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2013/03/10/2389528/10-years-after-us-invasion-kurds.html#storylink=cpy

Iraq's overall economy is improving significantly. It is reliably and methodically producing oil again. In 2012, Iraq produced more oil than in any year since the first Gulf War. By some estimates, Iraq will soon overtake Russia as the world’s number-two oil exporter. (Source.)

In Abu Dhabi, I met an educator from an elite private school in Irbil who reported on the city's remarkable progress over the last decade. I also spoke with an American army veteran who talked about how much he loves the Iraqi people, and how industrious they are. In Turkey, I met businessmen who invited me to accompany them on one of their frequent trips to northern Iraq. As an American, I demurred, thinking it unsafe. But now I wonder if I was too influenced by sensationalistic media reports. All of these encounters have challenged my negative preconceptions of Iraq. 

So you're saying America's mission in Iraq has not been a complete catastrophe?

Not completely. The long-oppressed Kurds in the north, representing about one-fifth of the population, saw the weakness of the central government as their opportunity to create a long dreamed of semi-independent Kurdish state, a wealthy one with oil. They are actually doing better than they were under Saddam and have taken ownership of their own provincial government. In that sense, they are grateful to the Americans. 

Perhaps the American venture will be considered one-third successful if Kurdistan's "liberation" holds. But there are serious dangers because the central government wants much more of the massive oil revenues the Kurds are producing, so they may fall into civil war with Baghdad.