Iraq Economic Statistics

Silvia Andreoletti

Silvia is a Reporter at Trade Finance Global. She is also currently finishing her BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at New College, Oxford, with a focus on financial markets, game theory, and international relations.

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Exporting to Iraq

Iraq’s main imports are oil, machinery, and agricultural products like tobacco and rice. 

Iraq imports much of its food and consumer goods, largely from Asian countries such as the UAE, China and Turkey. The agricultural industry, once an important part of Iraq’s economy, has shrunk in recent years and is predicted to weaken further due to climate change-related droughts. This will make it even more dependent on foreign food exports, which would leave many people vulnerable to food insecurity if an external shock leads to even a modest rise in prices. 

Iraq is still not a member of the WTO, despite gaining observer status in 2004. This complicates trade somewhat and precludes many investment opportunities; however, the newly elected government has signalled openness to widen its trade partners, which could mean more favourable legislation in the near future. 

The previous regime, toppled by the Iraq war in 2003, had a near-total control of the economy, and the process of privatisation and liberalisation is still ongoing. Corruption is widespread but the government is taking meaningful steps to combat it, making it less and less prevalent. Importers need an import licence to export to Iraq, which can be burdensome to acquire and might be taken away suddenly as government policy turns protectionist. Kurdistan, a semi-independent region of Iraq on the country’s border with Turkey, has lower tariffs and friendlier policies targeted at potential investors. 

Exporting to Iraq: What is trade finance?

The country holds the 44th rank as the largest export economy in the world. New contracts with international oil companies are also forecasted to increase Iraq’s oil exports about the usual level of around 1,900,000 bbl per day. The war with Iran which almost lasted for a decade brought long-term problems for Iraq because major oil export facilities were heavily damage thus the government resorted to borrowing funds and rescheduling foreign debt payments which could ultimately be summed up to reach at least $80 billion total losses. However, in the 1980s, Iraq slowly regained from these losses as oil exports increased after the rehabilitation and construction of the pipelines and facilities. Using the Harmonized System (HS) classification, it has been identified that the top exports of Iraq are Crude Petroleum ($76B), Refined Petroleum ($890 M), Ethers ($140 M), Tropical Fruits ($65 M) and Gold ($50 M) The top export destinations of Iraq meanwhile would include India ($18 B), China ($16B), the United States (at around $12B), South Korea ($8.3B) and Greece ($4.4B). The imports in Iraq declined from US $50,446 million to only US $45,200 million. As reported by the Central Bank of Iraq.

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