Home
An expert calls for diversifying exports of extractive goods instead of relying on petroleum ones
January 11, 2025
Baghdad/Iraq Observer
Countries depend on their income in foreign currencies from one of the following sources:
exports of goods and services,
foreign direct investment,
visitors coming from various countries,
expatriates who transfer part of their money to their countries, and
revenues from foreign investments generated by local institutions or persons outside the countries.
The head of the Future Iraq Center for Economic Studies and Consultations, Manar Al-Obaidi, stated that
although Iraq has
investment opportunities and the
ability to attract visitors and a number of
Iraqi expatriates outside Iraq, and
thousands of Iraqis own investments in various countries,
the state was unable to
encourage all of these sectors to create foreign currency revenues and continued. To try to
increase foreign exchange from sales of one commodity, which is oil. Al-Obaidi added during his speech to the Iraq Observer,
“Iraq’s budget is based on the quantity of oil sold and the price of a barrel of oil,” wondering,
“Isn’t it time to try to increase foreign investments, of which more than 18 billion dollars have fled outside Iraq, according to World Bank data?” He continued,
"Isn't it time to
encourage investments in extractive projects to
diversify exports of extractive goods instead of exporting one commodity, which is oil, and to
encourage exports of local industrial projects and
adopt a clear export policy for various countries near and far?" Al-Obaidi continues, asking,
“Isn’t it time to
regulate the entry of tourists and
try to benefit from their presence in Iraq and
increase their spending in a way that creates other revenue for the Iraqi state by
encouraging religious tourism from the countries with the highest income and therefore the highest spending instead of relying on a poor country to attract tourists, as well as
establishing the Iraqi Ministry of Expatriates?”
To communicate with Iraqi expatriates to encourage them to return to their countries and transfer part of their foreign investments to Iraq to contribute to creating income in foreign currencies.” He called for the
need to
benefit from thousands of Iraqi cadres capable of selling their services to various companies in various countries of the world, through a remote work system, to provide income in foreign currencies, as well as to
establish external investment funds that create a real return that contributes to supplying the profits of these funds as foreign currency into the country.
The economic expert calls on the government to abandon oil wealth and think about solutions outside the box, as the
oil era has ended and discussions about the timing of its end have begun.
https://observeriraq.net/خبير-يدعو-الى-تنويع-صادرات-السلع-الاست/
