Iraq targets unemployment reduction via farm, industry push
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq is seeking to reduce unemployment, currently around 13%, by expanding domestic production through agriculture and industry, Prime Minister’s financial adviser Mudher Mohammed Salih said on Sunday.
Salih told Shafaq News that the policy focuses on boosting grain output through above-market procurement, input support, and crop planning, alongside measures to support industry, including land allocation, fuel supply, technology imports, and financing initiatives to expand private-sector factories.
He said more than 1,300 industrial projects are being supported, with over one trillion Iraqi dinars (about $760 million) allocated as sovereign guarantees to enable private firms to secure foreign financing for projects linked to construction and industrial value chains. A planned “Riyada Bank” is expected to provide financing for small businesses and youth-led initiatives.
The push comes as data point to a gap between production and imports. Economist Manar Al-Obaidi said Iraq’s roughly 1,200 medium and large industrial projects generate no more than 7 trillion dinars (about $5.3 billion) annually, compared with imports exceeding 100 trillion dinars.
He added that the sector provides about 50,000 jobs, rising to around 100,000 including informal labor, against roughly 500,000 new entrants to the labor market each year, while growth of about 5% in large projects has yet to make industry a significant contributor to GDP.
