Acknowledgments The Middle East and Central Asia Regional Economic Outlook (REO) Update is prepared each spring by the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD). The analysis and projections contained in the MCD REO are integral elements of the department’s surveillance of economic developments and policies in member countries. It draws primarily on information gat
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FOREWORD This paper builds on the “Impact of the Oil Crisis and COVID-19 on Iraq’s Fragility” published in August 2020 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It explored how the COVID-19 pandemic and diminishing oil revenues are affecting various dimensions of Iraq’s fragility. A series of forthcoming papers will provide more details on key aspects of Iraq
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To the editors of the ‘Iraqi Economists Network’ (IEN) At the outset, my thanks go to the editors of the IEN and also to the World Bank’s ‘Country Economic Memorandum Team’ (WB-Team) for their interest in my article posted at the IEN website in early March (http://iraqieconomists.net/en/2021/03/08/world-banks-assessment-is-flawed-manufacturing-is-viable-in-iraq-pre
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To the esteemed editors of the Iraq Economist Network, We have read with great interest the paper published on your network’s website on March 8, 2021 and entitled “World Bank’s assessment is flawed Manufacturing is viable in Iraq!” by Dr. Amer K. Hirmis. We would like to provide some of comments for clarification in response to some of the ideas put forward by the paper.
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Abstract In late September 2020, the World Bank published a report entitled ‘Breaking out of fragility: a country economic memorandum for diversification and growth in Iraq’ (henceforth WB 2020). [i] In October 2020, the Iraqi government published its ‘White Paper for Economic Reforms: Vision and Key Objectives.’ This was followed in January 2021 by a draft ‘White Paper for
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