Iraqi Finance emphasizes improvement in economy; experts describe their actions as "cosmeticApril 16 2010
Baghdad, Iraq's Finance Ministry said on Thursday that the economic realities of the country has improved significantly over the last period, while experts say that the government's measures do not go beyond being a "prosthesis" in the context of improving the Iraqi economy to the ranks of the developed world's economies .
The Finance Minister, Baqir Jabur Al-Zubaidi, said that "the last period was pivotal and important in the history of the economic reform in Iraq".
Al-Zubaidi added that "his Ministry supervised on finishing an integrated plan to improve the rate of the Iraqi economy, particularly with regard to addressing the issue of inflation experienced by the country's economy," noting that "the master plan in dealing with inflation is loans which were a major breakthrough in the economy."
The minister noted that "the development is also supported by the private sector in the country through the establishment of important investment projects."
Iraq seeks to develop its economy through the activation of investment in the country to revive the crumbling economic infrastructure due to the long years of siege and war," he said.
The economist expert, Ali Abdullah, said that: "the key step in developing the Iraqi economy is in the standardization of financial and banking system and removing of legislation which increase the chances of financial inflation in order to reach the best level of fiscal management."
"It is necessary to end the economic difference between the segments of society through the establishment of an appropriate mechanism to improve the Iraqi economy reality," he added.
For his part, the economy expert, Seham Fawzi, called the Finance Ministry to make a broad effort to get rid of the economic problems experienced by the country, particularly inflation.
"Tackling inflation is the first step to address the economic problems that must follow the ways of global economic and benefit from international experience that went through the same economic experience that Iraq is experiencing," Fawzi said.
Fawzi added that "the next stage requires reforming the tax system, protect it from the economic impacts, the issuing of laws concerning the right of safety for the consumer, and to provide jobs."
The Iraqi government signed earlier this year a set of oil contracts with foreign companies, if implemented, would put Iraq in the ranks of major oil exporters in the world, in addition to providing job opportunities."
The security situations, as well as the ongoing political differences in Iraq that are the most prominent challenges that stand before the advancement of the economic reality in the country, as well as the spread of financial and administrative corruption in the country.
Transparency International Organization placed Iraq among the lowest transparent and most corrupt countries in the world in its annual report released last year, and showed that it ranked 176th out of 180 countries that have been subjected to the calendar ahead of Somalia, the worst corrupt countries in the world, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan.
The economic expert, Ali Al-Wasfi said that: "Finance Ministry failed in providing a suitable atmosphere for reforming the economic system in Iraq and that its recent attempts are just "prosthesis" attempts that are not useful in developing the Iraqi economy to what is appropriate to the economic development in the world.
Economic studies have confirmed that the Iraqi economy still suffers from many problems, notably the existence of complex legislation and the lack of coordination between the economic government departments in the country.
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