Resource information
Despite decades of war and instability,
Iraq's abundant natural resources, strategic geographic
location and cultural history endow it with tremendous
potential for growth and diverse economic development.
Driven by windfall oil revenues in recent years the
Government of Iraq (GoI) has invested heavily in rebuilding
infrastructure with abundant oil reserves ensuring steady
progress. However, decades of socialist policies have
tightly bound Iraq's economy to the state. The private
sector has had little opportunity or incentive to invest,
operate efficiently or expand. Moreover, Iraq's
conflicts have led to pervasive insecurity, an exodus of
educated and skilled Iraqis, isolation from global networks
of information and trade, and major damage to infrastructure.
