Iraq Economic Monitor, Spring 2016 : Laboring through the Crisis
Iraq is facing daunting challenges of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgency, political upheaval, and profound economic and humanitarian crises. Compounding the ISIS-related crisis, the sharp decline in global oil prices has resulted in...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | Arabic,English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/08/26740626/iraq-economic-monitor-labouring-through-crisis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25176 |
| Summary: | Iraq is facing daunting challenges of
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgency, political
upheaval, and profound economic and humanitarian crises.
Compounding the ISIS-related crisis, the sharp decline in
global oil prices has resulted in significant decline in oil
export revenues. Implementation of political reforms,
announced in August 2015, has been slow due to
constitutional constraints and systemic resistance to
changes. Iraq’s economic prospects are subject to
significant risks. Iraq has recently achieved some important
steps towards strengthening its investment climate, but much
remains to be done. An attractive investment climate is
integral to economic growth and poverty reduction. A key
task of the government is to balance the interests of
society and individual firms. A stronger investment climate
does not equate with a more comfortable life for individual
firms. The government must manage these trade-offs: global
analysis of the World Bank’s investment climate surveys
shows that firms facing strong competition are on average
fifty percent more likely to innovate than firms reporting
no such pressure. Innovation, in turn, is a key ingredient
for productivity improvement. The special focus section
explores the different aspects of the investment climate in
order to better understand their importance. With this
background, the authors then look at Iraq’s investment
climate and recent efforts to strengthen it. Finally, the
authors look at priorities for improving Iraq’s investment
climate going forward. |
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