Iraqi government turns to expand free zones

Iraq is moving towards activating the free zones and the possibility of expanding the area of their activities during the coming period to be a vital financial sector in addition to a major supporter for the public budget. Sources revealed that the diversification of financial revenues from non-oil sources is a necessity during the current period to reform the Iraqi economy.

Economic expert Mozafar Hosni said that Iraq’s Ministry of International Cooperation should take serious steps to support the free zones through benefiting from the bilateral agreements concluded between Iraq and many other countries, stressing the need for benefiting from these areas to attract foreign investments.

He also called the local governments for taking serious steps to ease the measures aiming to establish new free zones during the coming period to benefit from their advantages in financial, economic and social levels. He called for activating coordination between General Authority for Free Zones and the National Investment Authority to promote investment opportunities and attract foreign and national capital to Iraq.

In April, The Oil Ministry announced a slight increase in the total exported quantities of crude oil and revenue earned for March compared to last February, indicating that the amount of exports amounted to 101 million barrels, with revenues amounted to $ 4.766 billion.

The spokesman for Oil Ministry, Assem Jihad, said, in a statement, that the total exported quantities of crude oil last March of the oil fields in central and southern Iraq reached 99 million and 500 thousand barrels of revenues amounted to 4 billion and 697 million dollars, while the total exports from the Kirkuk oil reached one million and 500 thousand barrels, with earnings of $ 69 million.

Jihad added that the average price per barrel reached 47.188 dollars, noting that the quantities exported have been loaded by 32 international companies from different nationalities from the ports of Basra and Khor al-Amaya and buoys unilateralism on the Gulf and Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.

On the other hand, Iraqi oil minister stressed that Iraq will go with the consensus reached by OPEC when the oil exporter group meets in Vienna next month to discuss extending production cuts.  

"Now we're going on the 25th of May to OPEC and we're definitely going to be in line with OPEC's final decision and collective decisions," Jabar al-Luaibi told a conference in Paris.

Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was in full compliance with the OPEC-led supply pact reached last year and has achieved about 97 percent of its output reduction target, Luaibi said.