The 2020 OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO) was launched today in Vienna, Austria, providing the OPEC Secretariat’s in-depth look at the unprecedented scale and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global energy and oil markets, an assessment of the medium- and long-term prospects, as well as analysis of various alternative scenarios and sensitivities that have the potential to imp
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As Iraq emerges from nearly four years of conflict and displacement, the security context remains unstable in many parts of the country. The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 brought fresh challenges, including closed borders, curfews and restrictions on movement. Forecasts predict a negative impact on livelihoods and employment, with the economy expected to
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Toby Dodge (L), with Hisham al-Hashimi, former EU Ambassador to Iraq Ramon Blecua, and Chatham House’s Renad Mansour. My friend and colleague, Dr Hisham al-Hashimi, was brutally murdered outside his house in Baghdad on Monday night, 6 July. This is obviously a profound tragedy for his wife and young children who found him. It is also a huge blow for all of us worki
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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi held a brief press conference that painted a sobering picture about Iraq’s current financial situation. The presser came after an extraordinary cabinet meeting that debated Iraq’s strategy to face the current financial crisis and the measures to combat it, focusing largely on public sector reform and the development of
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The public’s demands are just and their patience is all but gone, so Baghdad needs to get on with the hard work of opening up the economy and providing critical services before the violence spirals out of control. While Washington focuses on getting Baghdad to rein in militias and end its dependency on Iranian energy, Iraqi citizens have been seething about other matters. Fuel
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