Iraqi Prime Minister Dismisses Key Officials

Intelligence chief, bank directors are out as Haider al-Abadi attempts to push through reforms By : GHASSAN ADNAN, ALI NABHAN and ASA FITCH Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi dismissed key officials, including the country’s intelligence chief and directors of six state-owned banks, Tuesday as he tries to push through government reforms in the face of growing popular prote

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Iraq gets initial accord for $3 billion Islamic Development Bank loans

The Islamic Development Bank has given its initial agreement to provide $3 billion in easy loans and grants to Iraq, helping the nation cope with a sharp decline in oil revenue, a central bank spokesman in Baghdad said Thursday in an email. The spokesman did not give further details. Iraq earlier this month agreed a $5.4 billion standby loan with the International Monetary

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World Bank: Economic Reforms will Help Achieve Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

ERBIL May 30, 2016 – A new World Bank Group report proposes a series of reforms to enable Iraq’s Kurdistan Region to chart a path out of the difficult economic challenges it faces toward a more sustainable and diversified economic future. The combination of factors that have recently placed more pressure on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) include fiscal crisis, close proxi

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Iraq SOMO head says so far, so good for OPEC’s strategy

OPEC's strategy of letting the oil market balance itself is working as investment in the industry is falling and any recovery will take time to bring new supplies, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Friday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries shifted policy in 2014 to focus on market share rather than cutting production to support prices, and at a meeting

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As Iraq repays debt, Lukoil pledges to unlock investment

Iraq has positively surprised oil majors by starting quickly to repay accumulated debts, the head of Russia's Lukoil said, pledging more investment to allow OPEC's second-largest producer to maintain stellar output growth. Iraq has become the world's fastest-growing oil producer with output up 50 percent since it signed contracts worth tens of billions of dollars with the li

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